He produced a pair of handcuffs. Luke Denton struggled vigorously, but the conductor assisted, and his hands were soon securely fastened.
"I congratulate you, Paul," said the conductor. "It was a mean plot, and might have succeeded. But I never doubted you."
"I know you didn't, Mr. Bates. I shall never forget that," said Paul, gratefully.
"I came near succeeding," said Denton, grimly. "The next time I will wholly succeed."
"Perhaps not," rejoined the detective. "Your disguise was very good, Mr. Denton; but there was one thing you forgot."
"To wear gloves. Any one would know that the hands did not belong to an old man. Besides, Quakers don't generally wear rings. I suspected you from the first."
"What a consummate fool I was!" muttered Denton, in disgust. "I ought to have thought of that."
Grace Dearborn sat before the fire in her aunt's handsome house, with a writing-desk in her lap. Before her was a sheet of note-paper on which she had commenced writing a list of names.
Her aunt sat near her, dictating a list of persons who were to receive cards of invitation to a party which she proposed giving in honor of her niece's birthday.
Grace had been writing busily for some time.
"Any one else, Aunt Caroline?" she asked.
"I believe I have included every one. Let me think. Oh, I came near forgetting Major Ashton. How stupid of me!"
"Major Ashton," repeated Grace, as she wrote the name.
"It would have been singular if we had forgotten to include him," said the elder lady.
"I suppose because I was not very anxious to have him invited."
"Yet he did you the honor of offering you his hand?"
"He may have considered it an honor; I didn't," said Grace, decidedly.
"Be it so! If he would accept his rejection as final I should not mind, but on the two or three occasions since when we have met he has tried to introduce the subject again. He does not seem willing to take no for an answer."
"Why not reconsider the matter, Grace? He is rich----"
"Well, he is fashionable, and is met everywhere in society. He would give his wife a desirable position."
"Will that compensate for the lack of love, Aunt Caroline?"
"Perhaps not, but love would come in time."
"Love must come _before_ marriage in my case, Aunt Caroline. With Major Ashton it would never come afterward."