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 body and bend her to him; and Ellen was not afraid of him, trying that.

"Are you clear for me to-night?" he demanded of her. Clear? How much did he mean?

She nodded. "I've no engagement."

"I kept clear for you. Slengel is slinging a party but I'll pass him up."

"Will you?" asked Ellen.

Lew kissed her, hugging her to him. "You beat anybody in Paris! . . . What'll we do first?"

Ellen freed herself from him and stepped back over the envelope she had dropped. She stooped quickly and picked it up. "Here's what I brought you."

He took it from her and tossed it away and laughed. She picked up the newspaper. "Seen this?" she spread it before him and he caught her, with an arm about her, and glanced at the type.

"I thought of you right away when I saw it," he said. "I looked for the name of the ship; it wasn't your father's."

"No," said Ellen. "I don't know where father is, since I've been in New York. In Chicago, I always knew."

"You know it's not his ship," repeated Lew; he wanted her to stop thinking about it. "It's not even an ore-vessel." He tried to take the paper away but she clung to it. "You don't think you know any of those men, do you?"

"Not those men," said Ellen. "I don't know the Gant; but I know the place where they are; I can see them."

"So can I," retorted Lew, "but that doesn't do them any good." He possessed himself of the paper, but it