younger, and her face was drawn and heavily lined as if by years of
ill-health. Her physical strength was prodigious; one perceived it with
the suddenness of surprise. Much the same impression was produced by
her youthful manner in connection with her worn features; yet, in spite
of her faded prettiness, there was a singular charm in her unabated
vivacity.

She darted off in pursuit of Tom, to be arrested by the first newcomer
she encountered, and Nicholas was responding gravely to Juliet's banter
when his eyes fell full upon Eugenia Battle as she stood at a little
distance.

He had not seen her for fifteen years, and he started quickly as if from
an unsuspected shock. She was talking rapidly in her fervent voice, the
old illumination in her look. Her noble figure, in a straight flaxen
gown, was drawn against a background of green, her head was bent forward
on her long white neck, her kindly hands were outstretched. She had
developed from a girl into a woman, but to him she was unchanged. Her
face was, perhaps, older, her bosom fuller, but he did not see it--to
him she appeared as the resurrected spirit of his youth. Miss Carr was
speaking and he made some brief rejoinder. Eugenia had turned and was
looking at him; in a moment he heard her voice.

"Are old friends too far beneath the eyes of your excellency?" she
asked, and he heard the soft laugh pulse in her throat.

Her hand was outstretched, and he took it for an instant in his own.

"I am very glad to see you," he remarked lamely as he let it fall--so
lamely that he bit his lip at the remembrance. "You are looking well,"
he added.

"Of course--a woman always looks well at night," she answered lightly.
"And you," she laughed again, her kindly, unconscious laugh; "you are
looking--large."

He did not smile. "I have no doubt of it," he responded, and was silent.

Juliet Galt broke in with an affectionate protest. "Eugie is as great a
tease as ever," she said. "She will be the death of my baby yet. I tell
her to choose one of her own size, but she never does. She always
plagues those smaller than herself--or larger."

But Eugenia had turned away to greet a stranger, and in a moment
Nicholas drew back into a windowed embrasure where the lights were dim.

Suddenly a voice broke upon his ear addressing Juliet Galt--the vibrant
tones of Dudley Webb. He had come in late and was standing in mock
helplessness before Juliet and Carrie, his plump white hand vacillat