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 at her, turned away suddenly. His voice had changed too, when he said:

"Shall I offer my services?"

"Oh, do!"

"You know that it is not my policy nor my custom to do that."

"It's your duty."

He swung round to her and took both her hands in a strong grip. "If you ask me, Valeska, I'll do it." And so Astro undertook to discover what was the trouble with Tulliver.

It was a delicate proceeding, at first, and it devolved upon Valeska herself to undertake the initial steps. It was three or four days before she had gone over the ground well enough to select the point of attack; but at the end of that time she had made up her mind that Mrs. Tulliver was in the line of least resistance to her efforts.

It did not take long for Valeska to discover that Mrs. Tulliver had a baby, and that the baby had a nurse, that the two went every fine morning to take the air in Central Park. In two days Valeska was there also with a baby borrowed for the occasion. Valeska waited at the corner of Fifth Avenue and East Sixty-fourth Street, until little Alice Tulliver and her nurse came down the steps of the Tulliver house. After that it was easy to make connections in the park and to happen to sit down on the same bench. To any one who watched Valeska's whimsical charm, and pretty expressive face, a confidential acquaintanceship was inevitable and the most natural thing in the world.