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to cover certain expenditures that might arise. I think I shall not need them; in that case I shall return the envelope unopened to Mr. Wentworth. But most important of all, if I succeed or fail, I shall say nothing about this matter to anyone outside your family. Do you agree to those conditions?”
    He growled, “Yes, I do.”
    â€œI have brought a memorandum of these five conditions. Will you sign it, please.”
    He read the list and began signing his name. Suddenly, he looked up. “But, of course, I shall pay you for this. I am ready to pay you a thousand dollars.”
    â€œIn that case, Mr. Bell, you must hire someone to kidnap Miss Bell. No amount of money could hire me to do that. I see my mission as one merely of persuasion.”
    He looked dazed, as though he were being led into a trap. He looked inquiringly at Bill.
    â€œI had not heard those conditions before, Mr. Bell. I think they are reasonable.”
    Mr. Bell finished signing the document and laid it on the table. I shook hands with Bill, saying, “Will you keep that signed agreement, Bill? I’ll be here tomorrow night at six to pick up the car.” I bowed to Mr. Bell and went out.
    The clerk at the reception desk of the “Y” lent me road maps of Rhode Island and Connecticut. I studied them closely at intervals during the next day. That about making my own ammunition was just bluff and swagger. In revolver practice at Fort Adams we had used cork bullets with a pin in them that penetrates the target board; I assumed that they could puncture a tire and I bought a package of them.
    The car was a beauty. I crossed on an early ferry to Jamestown and waited at the dock before the second ferry until I saw Miss Bell’s car enter the ferry boat. She was driving. I followed them into the vast dimly lit hull. Soon after the boat started she got out of the car and walking between the cars examined the faces of the occupants. She saw me from some distance and walked straight toward me. Mr. Jones followed her in a bewildered manner. I got out of my car and stood waiting for her, not without admiration; she was a tall handsome young woman, dark-haired and high-colored.
    â€œI know who you are, Mr. North. You run the kindergarten at the Casino. You have been paid by my father to spy on me. You are beneath contempt. You are the lowest form of human life. I could spit on you. . . . Well, haven’t you got anything to say for yourself?”
    â€œI am here in one capacity, Miss Bell. I am here to represent common sense.”
    â€œYou!”
    â€œWhat you are doing now will call down a world of ridicule in the newspapers; you will ruin Mr. Jones’s career as a teacher—”
    â€œRubbish! Nonsense!”
    â€œI hope that you’ll marry Mr. Jones—and with your family sitting in the front pew, as is fitting in a woman of your class and distinction.”
    â€œI can’t stand it! I can’t stand being hounded and dragged about by snooping policemen and detectives. I’m going crazy. I want to be free to do what I want.”
    Mr. Jones touched her elbow lightly: “Diana, let’s hear what he has to say.”
    â€œHear him? Hear him?—that yellow-bellied spy?”
    â€œDiana! Listen to me! ”
    â€œHow dare you give orders to me?” and she slapped his face resoundingly.
    I never saw a man more astonished, then humiliated. He lowered his head. She continued shouting at me: “I won’t be followed! I’ll never go back to that house again. Someone stole my letter. Why can’t I live like other people? Why can’t I live my life in my own way?”
    I repeated in an even voice, “Miss Bell, I am here to represent common sense. I want to spare you and Mr. Jones a great deal of mortification in the future.”
    Mr. Jones found his voice. “Diana, you’re not the girl I met in the hospital.”
    She put her hand to his reddened cheek.