“He caught the pretty girl under the arms and elevated her to a standing posture. She recovered her breath and her self-possession promptly and glowed upon him with the brightest of smiles. He had never before seen her.
“'Oh, thank you,' she said; adding, with the unconscious exaggeration of a schoolgirl, 'You've saved my life.'
“Realizing the absurdity of this speech, she blushed. Whereupon her rescuer, feeling that the situation warranted him in turning the matter to jest, replied:
“'That being the case, according to the rules of romance, I ought to marry you, like all the men who rescue the heroines in stories.'
“'Oh,' she answered, quickly, 'this isn't in a novel; it's real life.'
“'Yes; besides which, I see by the clock over there I have only four minutes in which to catch a train. Good morning.'
“And he ran off without taking a second glance at her. He arrived at the station in due time.
“Three years after that he married the most charming woman in the world, after an acquaintance of only six months.
“This woman is as beautiful as she is amiable. Nature has not been guilty of a single defect in her construction. A tiny scar upon her knee is all the more noticeable because of its solitude.
“It is a peculiarity of scars that each has a history. The history of this one has thus far, for no adequate reason, remained a family secret.