g your lenience for this liberty, I remain,

Yours very truly,

Maisie P. Lockwood._

"To-morrow afternoon! Written yesterday! That means the afternoon of
to-day.--And why the _P_--Maisie _P._ Lockwood? Is that for Pollock, her
first husband?--Unusual! A rather naive person!" Then his face went
blank. "She must be a thought-reader! How the dickens did she guess that
I wanted to make her acquaintance? I scarcely knew it myself at the time
that she wrote this letter."

Crushing the scented sheet in his hand, he tossed it into the empty
grate. "My dear lady, if you can read minds so accurately at a distance,
be assured of this: to-day I shall be too busy with Terry to have any
time to spare on you."

The door from the narrow hall partly opened. "May I come in?"

At sound of her voice, he sprang to his feet, upsetting his chair. She
made bold to look in at him. "Why, Tabs, you _are_ a late breakfaster.
Daddy told me you were planning to see me at eleven; to save you the
trouble, I hurried round."

Like a flurry of March sunshine, Terry entered.

II

He scarcely knew how to greet her. How does one greet a girl whose
permission he has yet to gain, whereas her father has already consented?
Moreover, there was his last memory of her, at midnight dodging into the
taxi to avoid him.

She spared him the trouble of deciding by holding out her hand. "I know
that you saw me. That's what I've come to talk about."

Her smile as she said it was both embarrassed and frank. She looked like
an honest youngster who had come voluntarily to confess and, if need be,
to be spanked. Tabs noticed that her lower lip was tremulous and that
she was whipping up her courage. His mind went back to days when she had
really been a child and he a man--when he had bound up cut fingers for
her, had taken her on fishing expeditions, had taught her to cast her
first fly and, as a reward, before the nursery lights went out, had been
allowed to see her snuggled safe in bed. Little Terry, she had been his
tiny sister in those days whom he had loved with no thought of
gain--just a small companion for whom he bought exciting presents
wherever he voyaged across the world--a doll's house in China, a quirt
in Mexico, a scarlet riding-saddle in Persia. It hurt him to see her
afraid of him now--afraid of him because he was about to offer her the
greatest of all presents. Was she afraid because he was too old for her?

"You don't need to talk abou