pared him the pains of any disclaimer by uttering one
for herself.

"Need cheering!--I! What an absurd idea!"

Hamilton smiled gladly as he heard his wife speak thus bravely in
assurance of her entire contentment. Now, for the first time, he turned
toward her. But it was plain that he failed to note her appearance with
any degree of particularity. He had no phrase of appreciation for the
exquisite woman, in the exquisite gown. He spoke with a certain tone of
fondness; yet it was the fondness of habit.

"That's right," he said heartily, as he crossed the room to her side,
and bestowed a perfunctory marital peck on the oval cheek. "I'm mighty
glad you haven't been lonesome, sweetheart."

"You were thinking that I might be lonesome?" There was a note of
wistfulness in the musical voice as she asked the question. The glow in
the golden eyes uplifted to his held a shy hint of hope.

Manlike, he failed to understand the subtle appeal.

"Of course, I didn't," he replied. "If I thought about it at all--which
I greatly doubt, we've been so rushed at the office--I probably thought
how glad you must be not having a man under foot around the house when
your friends called for gossip. Oh, I understand the sex; I know how you
women sit about and talk scandal."

An indignant humph! from Mrs. Delancy was ignored by Hamilton, but he
could not escape feeling a suggestion of sarcasm in his wife's
deliberately uttered comment:

"Yes, Charles, you do know an awful lot about women!"

"I knew enough to get you," he riposted, neatly. Then, he had an
inspiration that he believed to be his duty as a host: as a matter of
fact, it was rudeness in a husband toward his wife on the first
anniversary of their marriage. He turned suavely to Mrs. Delancy.
"You'll stay to dinner, of course, Aunt Emma." And he added, fatuously:
"You and Cicily can chat together afterward, you know.... I've a
horrible pile of work to get through to-night."

At her husband's unconscious betrayal of her dearest hopes, Cicily
started as if she had been struck. As he ceased speaking, she nerved
herself to the ordeal, and made her statement with an air as casual as
she could muster, while secretly a-quiver with anxiety.

"Why, Charles, we are going to the theater to-night, you know."

"To-night?" Hamilton spoke the single word with an air of blank
astonishment. It needed no more to make clear the fact that he had no
guess as to the importance of this especial day