in a constraint which was becoming unbearable
when the blessed doorbell rang and delivered us, and Miss Josephine St.
Michael entered with John Mayrant. He wore a most curious expression;
his eyes went searching about the room, and at length settled upon Juno
with a light in them as impish as that which had flickered in my own
mood before the ode.

To my surprise, Miss Josephine advanced and gave me a special and marked
greeting. Before this she had always merely bowed to me; to-night she
held out her hand. "Of course my visit is not to you; but I am very glad
to find you here and express the appreciation of several of us for your
timely aid to Daddy Ben. He feels much shame in having said nothing to
you himself."

And while I muttered those inevitable modest nothings which fit such
occasions, Miss St. Michael recounted to the bride, whom she was
ostensibly calling upon, and to the rest of our now once more harmonious
circle, my adventures in the alleys of Africa. These loomed, even with
Miss St. Michael's perfectly quiet and simple rendering of them, almost
of heroic size, thanks doubtless to Daddy Ben's tropical imagery when he
first told the tale; and before they were over Miss St. Michael's
marked recognition of me actually brought from Juno some reflected
recognition--only this resembled in its graciousness the original about
as correctly as a hollow spoon reflects the human countenance divine.
Still, it was at Juno's own request that I brought down from my chamber
and displayed to them the kettle-supporter.

I have said that Miss St. Michael's visit was ostensibly to the bride:
and that is because for some magnetic reason or other I felt diplomacy
like an undercurrent passing among our chairs. Young John's expression
deepened, whenever he watched Juno, to a devilishness which his polite
manners veiled no better than a mosquito netting; and I believe that his
aunt, on account of the battle between their respective nephews, had for
family reasons deemed it advisable to pay, indirectly, under cover of
the bride, a state visit to Juno; and I think that I saw Juno accepting
it as a state visit, and that the two together, without using a word
of spoken language, gave each other to understand that the recent
deplorable circumstances were a closed incident. I think that his Aunt
Josephine had desired young John to pay a visit likewise, and, to make
sure of his speedy compliance, had brought him along with her--coerced