“Miss Vaughan!” I cried, and took the hands and held them.

“Can you forgive me?” she demanded.

“For what?”

“For treating you so badly!  Oh, I could see what you thought of me, and I longed to tell you it was only make-believe, but I didn’t dare!  I could see your grimace of disgust, when I fell on my knees beside the chair yonder....”

“Miss Vaughan,” I broke in, “whatever my sentiments may have been—­and I was an idiot not to suspect the truth!—­they have all changed into enthusiastic admiration.  You were wiser and braver than all of us.”

A wave of colour swept into her cheeks.

“I might add,” I went on, “that I thought white robes becoming, but they were not nearly so becoming as this gown!”

“It is of the last century!” she protested.  “But anything is better than that masquerade!  And when—­when....”

“I think I can get Swain free this afternoon,” I answered.  “I’m going to try, anyway.  Mr. Godfrey ’phoned him the good news the first thing this morning.  This is Mr. Godfrey, Miss Vaughan,” I added, “and very eager to shake hands with you.”

“Very proud, too,” said Godfrey, coming forward and suiting the action to the word.

There was a step on the walk outside, and Dr. Hinman appeared at the door.

“Well!” he cried, coming in, his face beaming.  “There’s no need for me to ask how my patient’s doing!”

“I’m afraid you haven’t got any patient, any more, doctor,” I laughed.

“I’m afraid not,” agreed Hinman.  “I’ll have to go back to my office and wait for another one.  But before I go, Miss Vaughan, I want to hear the story.  Mr. Lester promised me I should.”

Miss Vaughan looked at me.

“We all want to hear it,” I said; “how you came to suspect—­how you got the glove—­everything.”

Her face grew sober, and a shadow flitted across it.

“Suppose we sit down,” she said, and just then the sentry at the door saluted and Simmonds stepped into the room.

I saw him shake his head in answer to Godfrey’s questioning look and knew that Silva had not been found.  Then I brought him forward to Miss Vaughan and introduced him.

“Mr. Simmonds,” I explained, “has been in charge of this case; and it was he who arranged to watch the house, for fear some harm would befall you....”

“I know,” broke in Miss Vaughan, clasping Simmonds’s hand warmly.  “Annie told me all about it this morning.  I don’t know how to thank you, Mr. Simmonds.”

“Oh, it wasn’t me, especially,” protested Simmonds, red to the ears.  “It was really Godfrey there, and Mr. Lester.  They were worried to death.”

“We were rather worried,” Godfrey admitted; “especially after we saw you at that midnight fireworks party.”

“You saw that?” she asked quickly; “but how....”

“Oh, we had seen the show every night for a week.  It was its failure to come off last night which first told us something was wrong.”