ear as a medium.
Wouldn't she be splendid in the "Thread of Destiny," Stuart?'

'I should think so, if I were at the end of the thread!'

'You would not suppose it, Miss Kennedy,' said Rollo; 'but the
"Thread of Destiny" is a silk ribband. The destiny is not
therefore always silken.'

'Much you know about it!' said Kitty. 'I just wish I could see
you thoroughly wound up for once, with Bell Powder and two or
three other people.'

'Wych Hazel was growing rather weary of the talk. 'Who were
the singers to-night, Mr. Nightingale?' she said, pitching her
voice for his benefit alone.

'Really,' said he, in an answering tone, 'I am not musical
enough to be certain about it. Voices in common speech I can
understand and appreciate; but in this kind of manifestation--
Mrs. Powder knows her business. She had secured the right sort
of thing. The principal singer is a lady who has studied
abroad; they are all visitors or dwellers in the
neighbourhood. Did you like the performance?'

'Some of it; but the singing above all. You cannot understand
that?'

'If you and Miss Kennedy want to whisper,' said Kitty Fisher,
'fall back a little, can't you, Mr. Nightingale? or turn down
another path. It disturbs my own train of thought, this trying
to hear what other people say.'

'Nobody would suspect Miss Fisher,' said Rollo, dryly, 'of
being unwilling that anybody should hear what _she_ has to say.'

'Do you know,' said Kitty, turning upon him with an
emphasizing pressure of the arm she held, 'what my thoughts
really _are_ at work upon?'

'Yes.'

'Let's hear. Tell me, and I'll tell you.'

'I do not think,' said Rollo, slowly,--'it would be expedient.'

'Fudge! You know you couldn't. I have been trying to find out
what so extremely sedate a person was after when he undertook
to walk me round in the moonlight!'

And in defiance of everything, Wych Hazel's soft 'Ha! ha!'
responded,--a little as if the question had perplexed her too.

'Have you had a good time?' said Rollo coolly.

'Very!--which makes it the more puzzling. Did Mr. Rollo ever
walk with you in the moonlight, Miss Kennedy?'

'Yes.'

'Have a good time?' said Kitty.

The girl hesitated; but among her accomplishments the art of
pretty fibs had not been included. The truth had to come out
in some shape.

'So far as Mr. Rollo could make it,'--she said at last.

O how Kitty Fisher laughed! and the gentlemen both smiled.

'Why, that is capital!' she cried.