he promised hospitality would be sure to be
misunderstood; so the scheme was carried forward though with less eclat
than possibly was expected.

Among the lesser guests, who were mostly young and well acquainted with
the house and its hospitality, there was one unique figure,--that of the
lively Miss Strange, who, if personally unknown to Miss Driscoll, was so
gifted with the qualities which tell on an occasion of this kind,
that the stately young hostess hailed her presence with very obvious
gratitude.

The manner of their first meeting was singular, and of great interest
to one of them at least. Miss Strange had come in an automobile and had
been shown her room; but there was nobody to accompany her down-stairs
afterward, and, finding herself alone in the great hall, she naturally
moved toward the library, the door of which stood ajar. She had pushed
this door half open before she noticed that the room was already
occupied. As a consequence, she was made the unexpected observer of a
beautiful picture of youth and love.

A young man and a young woman were standing together in the glow of a
blazing wood-fire. No word was to be heard, but in their faces, eloquent
with passion, there shone something so deep and true that the chance
intruder hesitated on the threshold, eager to lay this picture away in
her mind with the other lovely and tragic memories now fast accumulating
there. Then she drew back, and readvancing with a less noiseless foot,
came into the full presence of Captain Holliday drawn up in all the
pride of his military rank beside Alicia, the accomplished daughter of
the house, who, if under a shadow as many whispered, wore that shadow as
some women wear a crown.

Miss Strange was struck with admiration, and turned upon them the
brightest facet of her vivacious nature all the time she was saying to
herself: "Does she know why I am here? Or does she look upon me only as
an additional guest foisted upon her by a thoughtless parent?"

There was nothing in the manner of her cordial but composed young
hostess to show, and Miss Strange, with but one thought in mind since
she had caught the light of feeling on the two faces confronting her,
took the first opportunity that offered of running over the facts given
her by Mr. Driscoll, to see if any reconcilement were possible between
them and an innocence in which she must henceforth believe.

They were certainly of a most damaging nature.

Miss Driscoll and fou