*' I'll give him four days. And then if he
hasn't come back I'll do it — I will ! It will
be too much fun ! "

Thus Tom, growing daily more dubious of
the success of his bold methods, and sitting
at his desk in the office with a longer face
and longer, until there was no further pos-
sibility of elongation without fracture, re-
ceived on the fifth day of waiting a strange
and enigmatical note, which caused his heart
to thrill with eager conjecture. The note
was addressed to him, in Miss Trumbull's
vigorous handwriting, but it began '* Sweet
Chloe," and ended, ''Your never-to-be-
daunted Strephon." Though Mr. Norrie
was entirely unacquainted with either the
gentleman or the lady, and had no right if
he were to read their private correspondence,
he perused this brief epistle with shameless
eagerness. ^



40 YOUR MONEY OR YOUR LIFE

*' I am not the craven I seem," wrote
Strephon. " A laggard in love is no lover,
a coward in love is no man. I am both man
and lover, and to prove this to you, with
your gracious permission, fair lady, I will be
beneath the plane-tree in the garden, where
last I saw you, at nine to-night. I could, if
needful — not being a coward, as I remarked
before — ^scale the area fence from the back
alley and risk the cruel hurts of the broken
bottles glued on the top thereof, but unless
you specially require this proof of the pro-
fundity of my passion, I should prefer that
you would leave the gate unlocked. But
through flood or fire, broken glass or barbed
wire, I shall pass all barriers that lie betwixt
us, and cast myself at your feet at the hour
and place stated above, provided, of course,
your feet are there to cast myself at. Vou
furnish the feet and I'll do the rest, in other
words. Is it a bargain ? — ^if you will par-
don the language of commerce applied to
the affairs of love. 