The girl wrote: "He doesn't know," with a satisfaction apparently causeless.
"Is she a relative of yours, Mr. Gatewood?" very sweetly.
"What is her name?" in a low voice which started several agreeable thrills chasing one another over him.
He looked her full in the eyes; suddenly he bent forward and gazed at the printed paper from which she had been apparently reading.
"Why, all those questions you are scaring me with are not there!" he exclaimed indignantly. "You are making them up?"
"I--I know, but"--she was flushing furiously--"but they are on the other forms--some of them. Can't you see you are answering 'Form K'? That is a special form--"
"But why do you ask me questions that are _not_ on Form K?"
"Because it is my duty to do all I can to secure evidence which may lead to the discovery of the person you desire to find. I--I assure you, Mr, Gatewood, this duty is not--not always agreeable--and some people make it harder still."
Gatewood looked out of the window. Various emotions---among them shame, mortification, chagrin--pervaded him, and chased each other along his nervous system, coloring his neck and ears a fiery red for the enlightenment of any observer.
"I--I did not mean to offend you," said the girl in a low voice--such a gently regretful voice that Gatewood swung around in his chair.
"There is nothing I would not be glad to tell you about the woman I have fallen in love with," he said. "She is overwhelmingly lovely; and--when I dare--I will tell you her name and where I first saw her--and where I saw her last--if you desire. Shall I?"
"It would be advisable. When will you do this?"
She absently wrote on her pad: "He doesn't dare tell me now." Then, with head still bent, she lifted her mischief-making, trouble-breeding brown eyes to his once more.
"I am to come here, of course, to consult you?" he asked dizzily.
He said hastily: "It's no trouble for me to come; I walk every morning."
"But there would be no use, I think, in your coming very soon. All I--all Mr. Keen could do for a while would be to report progress--"
"That is all I dare look for: progress--for the present."
During the time that he remained--which was not very long--neither of them spoke until he arose to take his departure.