he could have imagined when they met. She
carried her feeling of elation home with her, and was able to report Sue
in a state of almost smiling prosperity, and of perfect resignation, if
not acquiescence, in whatever the company should make Hilary do. She
figured her father, in his reluctance, as a sort of ally of the
Northwicks, and she was disappointed that he seemed to derive so little
pleasure from Sue's approval. But he generally approved of all that she
could remember to have said for him to the Northwicks, though he did not
show himself so appreciative of the situation as Matt. She told her
brother what Sue had said when she heard of his unwillingness to intrude
upon her, and she added that now he must certainly go to see her.

XXII.

A day or two later, when Matt Hilary went to Hatboro', he found Wade in
his study at the church, and he lost no time in asking him, "Wade, what
do you know of the Miss Northwicks? Have you seen them lately?"

Wade told him how little he had seen Miss Northwick, and how he had not
seen Suzette at all. Then Matt said, "I don't know why I asked you,
because I knew all this from Louise; she was up here the other day, and
they told her. What I am really trying to get at is, whether you know
anything more about how that affair with Jack Wilmington stands. Do you
know whether he has tried to see her since the trouble about her father
came out?"

Adeline Northwick had dropped from the question, as usual, and it really
related so wholly to Suzette in the thoughts of both the young men, that
neither of them found it necessary to limit it explicitly.

"I feel quite sure he hasn't," said Wade, "though I can't answer
positively."

"Then that settles it!" Matt walked away to one of Wade's gothic
windows, and looked out. When he turned and came back to his friend, he
said, "If he had ever been in earnest about her, I think he would have
tried to see her at such a time, don't you?"

"I can't imagine his not doing it. I never thought him a cad."

"No, nor I."

"He would have done it unless--unless that woman has some hold that
gives her command of him. He's shown great weakness, to say the least.
But I don't believe there's anything worse. What do the village people
believe?"

"All sorts of lurid things, some of them; others believe that the affair
is neither more nor less than it appears to be. It's a thing that could
be just what it is in no other country in the world. It's the