ng his so
apologetically.

"You said to me there, to-night, you couldn't care for me that way,"
he told her, "but couldn't you marry me anyhow, Alexina, and we'll
take care of her together?"

For he thought she knew what he did. Her eyes, which had lowered,
lifted again, doubtfully, wistfully. Was she wishing she could? They
met his. Perhaps his were too humble.

A shiver went through the girl. Then came a sobbing utterance. "I
can't, I can't; but oh, if you only knew how I wish I could!"

She broke down in tears. "Don't be mad with me, Georgy."

"Oh," said Georgy, preparing to go, "it's not that I'm mad. I reckon
you don't understand these things yet, Alexina."

CHAPTER EIGHT

It seemed all at once as if some wilful perversity seized Molly; at
home she was so petulant Alexina dared not cross her, for to anger her
was to make her cough; abroad she was gayer than any, almost to
recklessness. Celeste, taciturn and secretive, kept herself between
mother and daughter insistently, and often the door to Molly's room
was locked until afternoon. Mrs. Garnier must not be disturbed, she
said.

One of these times, a day in late July, Alexina went out to the
Carringfords'. Emily knew most of the comings and goings of Alexina
and her mother. In her heart probably she was envious, though to
Alexina she was concerned.

"That picnic of last week is being talked about, Alexina," she said.

Alexina flushed, but she was honest. "It ought to be," she said.
Gaiety can tread close upon the heels of recklessness. But if Molly
went the daughter had to go, for this very reason, though she could
not tell Emily this.

So she spoke of other things. "Do you know anything of Uncle Austen?"
she asked. "Is he still taking his meals down-town and sleeping at the
house?"

Emily looked conscious. "Yes," she said, "I think he is."

Somehow Alexina felt that Emily not only knew but wanted it to be felt
that she knew. Then why hesitate and say only that she thought so?

"How's Garrard?" Alexina asked suddenly. Garrard was young Doctor
Ransome. Emily flushed a little, but she answered unconcernedly, "Well
enough, I reckon."

On Alexina's return to the hotel, the clerk stopped her in the
corridor, looking a little embarrassed under the clear, surprised gaze
of the young lady. "It's about a little matter with Mrs. Garnier; it's
been running two months now."

A moment after, as she went on blindly up the stairs, a folded paper
in