eorge lightly upon the side
of his head, so as not to disturb his eating--and left aunt and nephew
alone together.

"It never was becoming to her to look pale," Fanny said absently, a few
moments after Isabel's departure.

"Wha'd you say, Aunt Fanny?"

"Nothing. I suppose your mother's been being pretty gay? Going a lot?"

"How could she?" George asked cheerfully. "In mourning, of course all
she could do was just sit around and look on. That's all Lucy could do
either, for the matter of that."

"I suppose so," his aunt assented. "How did Lucy get home?"

George regarded her with astonishment. "Why, on the train with the rest
of us, of course."

"I didn't mean that," Fanny explained. "I meant from the station. Did
you drive out to their house with her before you came here?"

"No. She drove home with her father, of course."

"Oh, I see. So Eugene came to the station to meet you."

"To meet us?" George echoed, renewing his attack upon the salmon salad.
"How could he?"

"I don't know what you mean," Fanny said drearily, in the desolate voice
that had become her habit. "I haven't seen him while your mother's been
away."

"Naturally," said George. "He's been East himself."

At this Fanny's drooping eyelids opened wide.

"Did you see him?"

"Well, naturally, since he made the trip home with us!"

"He did?" she said sharply. "He's been with you all the time?"

"No; only on the train and the last three days before we left. Uncle
George got him to come."

Fanny's eyelids drooped again, and she sat silent until George pushed
back his chair and lit a cigarette, declaring his satisfaction with what
she had provided. "You're a fine housekeeper," he said benevolently.
"You know how to make things look dainty as well as taste the right way.
I don't believe you'd stay single very long if some of the bachelors and
widowers around town could just once see--"

She did not hear him. "It's a little odd," she said.

"What's odd?"

"Your mother's not mentioning that Mr. Morgan had been with you."

"Didn't think of it, I suppose," said George carelessly; and, his
benevolent mood increasing, he conceived the idea that a little harmless
rallying might serve to elevate his aunt's drooping spirits. "I'll tell
you something, in confidence," he said solemnly.

She looked up, startled. "What?"

"Well, it struck me that Mr. Morgan was looking pretty absent-minded,
most of the time; and he certainly is dressing better than