le sensation that combined the sense of personal injury with an intolerable sense of loss. The

et's grandmother. She's neither married nor dead-he's only taken her home in a hurry. Good Lor

th your ornamental way of putting things. Who is he, anyway, and what the devi

s only her

-brother,

d thunder. I know you. It's just that somebody wasn't well at home, and they wanted her. Nothing at all serious, he said

though it's none of my business, I want to know whatever you can tell me about th

on your innocent countenance. Tabor's an importer, with a flourishing business in red ink and spaghetti and other products of Sunny It'. Mrs. Tabor's a dear little soul with nerves and an occasi

known th

he sun and take a sedative. You won't be ha

hing cool to drink. Then without more preface I told the tale

awake nights waiting for your next instalment

ve me a little serious thought, if you can stand the strain. I like

or got you mixed up with somebody else; and Mrs. Tabor worried herself into a state about it, and they turned you out. It's a shame-or it would be if the thought of you as a desperate character who couldn't be allowed overnight in a

about the dago sailor at the inn? How about Miss Tabor's warning me off for

a moment, then brushe

probate to leave at large. The guinea was drunk, on your own showing. As for Lady, she has a better head than the ave

to find out wha

any conceivable connection between these details! and you talk as if they were veiled and awful hin

stopped short. Bob was my friend, and whatever I chose to tell him w

something wrong; and I firmly believe that somehow or other all these th

on for three or four years, and there simply isn't anything unusual about them. They're just like ev

ve got some scandalous idea of me, they're going to apologize; and if they're in trouble, I'

here is any family secret, it's nothing against Lady. She's about

on't. And perhaps

red, the more it seemed to me that I had been right in my suspicion, and that the whole empty charge had been merely an excuse for driving me from the house and a device for terminating the acquaintance. I discovered during those few days the truth of the saying that to think is the hardest thing in the world; for my attempts to reason out the situation pers

all the air was clear with that sparkling zest common enough in autumn but rare in the heat of midsummer; and as I hurried along, the beauty of the w

home?" I asked the

go and see, sir," she said finally, an

the room where I sat was cool and pleasant. I found my heart beating

is not at ho

tood looking at her foolishly as she held open the d

is not at home, sir," the

to a sudden halt. I was getting to be a fool. The probability was that the maid had simply spoken the truth; and in any case, the whole matter was easy of determination. At the inn I wrote a short note to Miss Tabor, saying that I was in town for a few days, regretting t

en were coming slowly up the long driveway in front, which paralleled the road on which I stood; and as they approached the house, it seemed to me that they were walking not upon the gravel of the drive, but upon the grass beside it. When they reached the steps they turned aside, and skirting the house with a more evident avoidance of paths, crossed a stretch of lawn to what appeared to be a stable or garage some distance behind it. There was a furtiveness about t

ely drew back under the bulk of a big maple beside the road. Then he would move out beyond the edge of the shrubbery where he could see the lighted room above the garage, then return to his watching under the window. Once

leaned out, her face ve

ter?" she called

arage. All clear in there? He mustn't be

the other man was with him, and they crept past me among the shrubs, talking softly. The other man was tall, with a breadth of shoulder and thickness of ches

that we shall go qui

the gray wall. They were standing close together upon the narrow terrace that ran between the driveway and the side of the house, and Reid was fumbli

, drawn up by the roadside, its engine purring softly and its lamps boring bright tunnels through the gloom. I knew it for the Tabors' by the monogram on the panels; and as I went by, I noticed the chauffeur lying sleepily back in his s

ng I was forcing myself upon them, certainly against the wishes of Doctor Reid and Mr. Tabor, and possibly even against those of Miss Tabor, herself. Nevertheless, I made up my mind perversely. Of