when the morning brought no answer to my note; nor did the arrival of Doctor Reid about the middle of the forenoon te

you, but," he looked again at his watch, "I'm on my way down to my office and I find I'm a little

discovered, of being a much faster walker than he actually was; I had no difficulty in

ine. Fine. Now about that note of yours. No reason at all for your coming back here, you know. Acquaintanc

m Miss Tabor or an objection on the part o

can't receive your call. Maid told you yesterday she was not at home. Civil answer. No occasion for carrying the matter a

acquaintance for his family. That was absurd, and by this time he knows it. If I'm fo

. Haven't heard a word about it. Nothing against you. Mrs.-Miss Tabor doesn't wish to see you, that's all. Very unpleasant position

"that now that my reputation is

egretted. Simply, you aren't wanted. Very distressing to have to say this. You ought to have seen it. Noth

fool; and I had a sickening sense that all the delightful kindliness of the days at the beach might have been the exaggeration of unwilling courtesy. But another moment of that memory brough

an ordinary family. But your family isn't ordinary. You put up invisible fences and then accuse me of trespassing. I don't want to drag your skeleton out of the closet; b

let's drop this and come right down to the facts. May as well be practical. Nothing more to say. You're not to call. Told you so already. Very d

t. I tell you plainly I don't doubt your literal word, but I do doubt your motives and your authority. If Miss Tabor herself tells me to

rence whatever to me. Glad to be relieved of the business. Better call this afternoon, and have it over w

l this af

Sorry to have had this to do at all. Very unpleasant for both of us, but life's

l in person, but Reid's very readiness of acquiescence indicated the completeness of his confidence in my discomfiture. I spent the interim planning things to say which I knew I should miserably forget when the time came to say th

rossed the room she slid her book upon the table and stood

do, Mr. Cros

ow inanity of that under the circumstances left me standing speechless, defeated before the beginning. She was standing very straight, and her eyes looked beyond me blankly, as they

she said. "I want to talk

is would be a good time for m

tter. The handle of it was carved to represent a fish with its mouth open grasping the blade. Somewhe

suppose it is about something in pa

I have been told that my attempt to call is an intrusion, and that you d

ne. "Well," she said, "I tell yo

ot as if she were playing a part, but as if she were going through with an unpleasant

been made up and put upon me. Except for crossing lines that ne

n you brought me here, I told you to forget us-that you were not to ask questions, nor try to see me a

though nothing had broken what we began in the holidays. I can't believe that you were only playing a courteous part. You

tle laugh, leaning back

ting the case? Have we been such very great fr

ded d

on't know what my family disliked in you, and I don't think I care to know. It has nothing to do with me. But this is what I dislike. You called up my father the next morning, and demanded reasons. You went to the beach, where you kne

d stood with me by the water's edge, who had run childishly hand in hand with me upon the beach, who had walked with me and talk

h. But surely you should have played your part. At the Ainslies' I wanted to treat you as I should have treated anybody. Do you think that you have been fair? Do you think you should have risked following me? For it was a risk. You h

st shock of a physical injury, felt numbly conscious of the deliberate suffering that was to follow. She had risen too, looking somehow curiously small and

I am sure. Look at me, Lady

knife at her feet and faced me haughtily. "Know?" she said, with a dry tension i

ood looking sobe

t all?"

eyes grew suddenly afraid. She caught away her hand and s

begged. "Please, please

y strength. "No, I don't

ith half a sob, forlorn

stand. You are neve

can't do t

vely. "Be kind to me-" she paused, "bec

more than that," said I; "is

it," she said at last, "

etly. "I shall stay away until

ite. It made little difference to think that I might some day be sent for. Evidently it was to be Europe this summer after all. My only desire was to make my going a thing immediate and complete; to rupture so absolutely the threads of the woof that we had

ng open the drawers from where I sat, and searching their depths for little odds and ends which I piled upon the bureau top. The bottom of the second drawer was covered with an old newspaper; and I smiled as I noticed that its fabric was already turning brittle and yellowish, and read the obsolete violence of the head-lines. Then a name hal

de's parents, Miriam, daughter of George and C