is thought had hidden
itself behind, "I know I can't ever marry Graham."

And it was a young girl harassed with perplexities like these, whom he
had permitted in his stead to beard the lioness. Well, if there was
anything in the world, any conceivable thing, that he could do to repair
the consequences of his fault, he would do it. If that lovers'
misunderstanding with Graham could, after all, be cleared away it would
be the happy, the completely desirable solution of the problem. But if it
could not ... A day-dream that it was he who stood in Graham Stannard's
shoes, offering her harbor and rest and a life-long loyalty, formed the
bridge over which he finally fell asleep.

She called him to the telephone the next morning while he was at
breakfast; just to tell him she was in town, she said, and to ask him if
he had heard anything from his sister in Omaha as to whether she wanted a
nursery governess. He had to admit, of course, that he had not even
written to her, and felt guiltier and more miserable than ever.

"Do write to-day, though, won't you?" she urged. "And give me the best
character you can. Because I am going to get some sort of job just as
soon as possible."

In reply to the inarticulate noise of protest he made at this she went
on, "Our family has simply exploded. I fled for my life last night. So
you see I'm really in earnest about going to work now."

"I want to come and see you at once," he said. "Where are you?"

"At home," she answered, "but I'm going out this minute for the day. If
you'd like a picnic tea here at half past five, though, come and I'll
tell you what I've been doing."

He asked if this meant that she was staying all by herself in the
Dearborn Avenue house without even a servant, and at his lively horror
over this she laughed with an amusement which sounded genuine enough to
reassure him somewhat. She ended the conversation by telling him that she
had left her father with the impression that she was going straight to
Hickory Hill. She was writing Aunt Lucile a note saying she meant to stay
in town for a few days. "But if you get any frantic telephone calls in
the meantime, tell them I'm all right."

He wondered a good deal, as his hours marched past in their accustomed
uneventful manner, what she could be doing with hers. It was an odd
locution for her to have employed that she was "going out for the day."
He couldn't square it with any sort of social activity. The thing that
kept