ied the chief seat, a small, birdlike creature with quick motions and a sharp tongue which helped to shape staccato notes as varied as those of a catbird. She co

y. She had gone through college because college was at hand, and she would now assume, it was to be expected, li

d at any one else," she oft

ho seldom allowed him to finish his long, beautiful sentences. Sometimes she helped him with a word, sometimes she

of the prospect which Mrs. Bent and her daughter enjoyed daily; here was a fireplace and here ample space for shelves. He transported himself thither with desk, pamphlets, old books, and all other movable possessions except his c

les for the "Era" and longer articles for the "Continent," and occasionally he received letters in comment from scholars. He read widely, and his mind, quickened by some modern instance, offered at once

oks. But she expected a continuation of these perquisites and was quick to suspect their arrival. Instead of adding new volumes of Pater or old editions of the poetry of Robert Herrick to his library, he added new pieces of statuary a

d do and be nothing in the world, he had accepted a position with an uncle, a manufacturer in New York, and had risen until he was now his uncle's chief assistant at a salary well known in Waltonville. He proved himself to be equal to all those commercial emergencies

d now in his study; the time that Cora had spent with her books she would spend embroidering. Mrs. Scott's life would know at first no change, but in Au

d and listened, regretting the chance which had taken her husband to the porch before her. Somehow Utterly in his beautiful white clo

om the parlor, with its gilt chairs and its pale upholstery, to the sitting-room, with its

s truly patient and in such a situation she now waited and listened. When a single clear statement reached her alert ears, she moved nearer to the door. The stranger had said that he was a member of the staff of "Willard's Magazine"! She had a passion for literature, she belie

e the tone which he assumed when he was bored or when he was talking with persons whom he did not lik

this youth used English pronunciations as he might have used a monocle, with evident and painful effort. In what he had to say Dr. Scott was not the leas

he did not remember that he had ever heard of Basil. Richard Everman had been president of the college and he had had one child, a daughter who was now Mrs. Lister. From her

h she adored without having seen. When she saw him reach for his hat and stick, which he had laid on the porch floor beside him, she lifted the latch and walked out. She was just in the nick of time. Neither th

only hope of his own escape could have inspired. Now, at least, he need not talk. Perhaps he could even leave the stranger entirely in

nality of manner which made it nece

d she eagerly

ything of him?"

a brother of Mrs

repeated

died of some contagious disease and he wasn't buried here, I know that. I thi

out Basil Everman and he so little, but whether he had never heard his name, or whether he

'wild'?" asked Utterl

as other people did them,"

ever s

N

nything of h

de the acknowledgme

g more was very singular, her curiosi

ng remarkable abo

t and stick firmly in his han

think of this brilliant stranger in the hands of

r lips as though it had long waited just behind them-"you might like to meet so

alacrity. If he were still in Walto

of Waltonville whom I shou

down the list of professors. She

to ask any one.

Miss Bent did not move in Mrs. Scott's circle. The worse for Mrs. Scott! He explained that he was to call on Miss Bent that evening by appointment. She w

his wife spoke

?" demanded Mrs. Scott of D

r! Why did you invite

flippantly. "What does he want here? What does he want wi

didn't ask. It's

plied somewhere for

s of incredulous astonishment which he had cast upon her during all but a very brief period of their married life, and fled. That a party involved the making of ice-cream and that he would be requir