Bob Hampton of Placer

In spite of Miss Spencer's quiet words of renunciation, there was a

look of pleading in her shyly uplifted eyes impossible to resist.

Brant promptly surrendered before this masked battery.

"It will be no more than a pleasure to recover it for you," he

protested, gallantly.

The stairs leading down from the hall entrance were shrouded in

darkness, the street below nearly deserted of loiterers, although

lights streamed forth resplendently from the undraped windows of the

Occidental and the hotel opposite. Assisted in his search by Mrs.

Guffy, the officer succeeded in recovering the lost fan, and started to

return. Just without the hotel door, under the confusing shadows of

the wide porch, he came suddenly face to face with a young woman, the

unexpected encounter a mutual and embarrassing surprise.