The events just related did not come to my knowledge for some days after they occurred, but I have recorded them at this time that I might in some way prepare you for an interview which shortly after took place between myself and Mr. Gryce.  
I had not seen him since our rather unsatisfactory parting in front of Miss Althorpe's house, and the suspense¹ which I had endured in the interim² made my greeting unnecessarily warm. But he took it all very naturally.
 
"You are glad to see me," said he; "been wondering what has become of Miss Oliver. Well, she is in good hands; with Mrs. Desberger, in short; a woman whom I believe you know."
 
"With Mrs. Desberger?" I was surprised. "Why, I have been looking every day in the papers for an account of her arrest."
 
"No doubt," he answered. "But we police are slow; we are not ready to arrest her yet. Meanwhile you can do us a favor. She wants to see you; are you willing to visit her?"
 
My answer contained but little of the curiosity and eagerness I really felt.
 
"I am always at your command. Do you wish me to go now?"[Pg 351]
 
"Miss Oliver is impatient," he admitted. "Her fever is better, but she is in an excited condition of mind which makes her a little unreasonable³. To be plain, she is not quite herself, and while we still hope something from her testimony⁴, we are leaving her very much to her own devices, and do not cross her in anything. You will therefore listen to what she says, and, if possible, aid her in anything she may undertake, unless it points directly towards self-destruction. My opinion is that she will surprise you. But you are becoming accustomed to surprises, are you not?"
 
"Thanks to you, I am."
 
"Very well, then, I have but one more suggestion to make. You are working for the police now, madam, and nothing that you see or learn in connection with this girl is to be kept back from us. Am I understood?"
 
"Perfectly⁵; but it is only proper for me to retort that I am not entirely⁶ pleased with the part you assign me. Could you not have left thus much to my good sense, and not put it into so many words?"
 
"Ah, madam, the case at present is too serious for risks of that kind. Mr. Van Burnam's reputation, to say nothing of his life, depends upon our knowledge of this girl's secret; surely you can stretch a point in a matter of so much moment?"
 
"I have already stretched several, and I can stretch one more, but I hope the girl won't look at me too often with those miserable⁷ appealing eyes of hers; they make me feel like a traitor⁸."
 
"You will not be troubled by any appeal in them. The appeal has vanished; something harder and even more difficult to meet is to be found in them now:[Pg 352] wrath⁹, purpose, and a desire for vengeance¹⁰. She is not the same woman, I assure you."
 
"Well," I sighed, "I am sorry; there is something about the girl that lays hold of me, and I hate to see such a change in her. Did she ask for me by name?"
 
"I believe so."
 
"I cannot understand her wanting me, but I will go; and I won't leave her either till she shows me she is tired of me. I am as anxious to see the end of this matter as you are." Then, with some vague idea that I had earned a right to some show of confidence on his part, I added insinuatingly¹¹: "I supposed you would feel the case settled when she almost fainted at the sight of the younger Mr. Van Burnam."
 
The old ambiguous smile I remembered so well came to modify his brusque rejoinder.
 
"If she had been a woman like you, I should; but she is a deep one, Miss Butterworth; too deep for the success of a little ruse¹² like mine. Are you ready?"
 
I was not, but it did not take me long to be so, and before an hour had elapsed I was seated in Mrs. Desberger's parlor¹³ in Ninth Street. Miss Oliver was in, and ere long made her appearance. She was dressed in street costume.
 
I was prepared for a change in her, and yet the shock I felt when I first saw her face must have been apparent, for she immediately remarked:
 
"You find me quite well, Miss Butterworth. For this I am partially¹⁴ indebted to you. You were very good to nurse me so carefully. Will you be still kinder, and help me in a new matter which I feel quite incompetent¹⁵ to undertake alone?"
 
Her face was flushed, her manner nervous, but her[Pg 353] eyes had an extraordinary look in them which affected¹⁶ me most painfully, notwithstanding the additional effect it gave to her beauty.
 
"Certainly," said I. "What can I do for you?"
 
"I wish to buy me a dress," was her unexpected reply. "A handsome dress. Do you object to showing me the best shops? I am a stranger in New York."
 
More astonished than I can express, but carefully concealing¹⁸ it in remembrance of the caution received from Mr. Gryce, I replied that I would be only too happy to accompany her on such an errand. Upon which she lost her nervousness and prepared at once to go out with me.
 
"I would have asked Mrs. Desberger," she observed while fitting on her gloves, "but her taste"—here she cast a significant look about the ............