ice forced her trembling lips to speak.

"My husband--_Mr. Arkwright!_ Why, Billy, you couldn't have seen--you
haven't seen--there's nothing you _could_ see! He isn't--he wasn't--he
can't be! We--we're nothing but friends, Billy, just good friends!"

Billy, though dismayed, was still not quite convinced.

"Friends! Nonsense! When--"

But Alice interrupted feverishly. Alice, in an agony of fear lest the
true state of affairs should be suspected, was hiding behind a bulwark
of pride.

"Now, Billy, please! Say no more. You're quite wrong, entirely. You'll
never, never hear of my marrying Mr. Arkwright. As I said before, we're
friends--the best of friends; that is all. We couldn't be anything else,
possibly!"

Billy, plainly discomfited, fell back; but she threw a sharp glance into
her friend's flushed countenance.

"You mean--because of--Hugh Calderwell?" she demanded. Then, for the
second time that afternoon throwing discretion to the winds, she went on
plaintively: "You won't listen, of course. Girls in love never do. Hugh
is all right, and I like him; but there's more real solid worth in Mr.
Arkwright's little finger than there is in Hugh's whole self. And--" But
a merry peal of laughter from Alice Greggory interrupted.

"And, pray, do you think I'm in love with Hugh Calderwell?" she
demanded. There was a curious note of something very like relief in her
voice.

"Well, I didn't know," began Billy, uncertainly.

"Then I'll tell you now," smiled Alice. "I'm not. Furthermore, perhaps
it's just as well that you should know right now that I don't intend to
marry--ever."

"Oh, Alice!"

"No." There was determination, and there was still that curious note of
relief in the girl's voice. It was as if, somewhere, a great danger had
been avoided. "I have my music. That is enough. I'm not intending to
marry."

"Oh, but Alice, while I will own up I'm glad it isn't Hugh Calderwell,
there _is_ Mr. Arkwright, and I did hope--" But Alice shook her head and
turned resolutely away. At that moment, too, Aunt Hannah came in from
the street, so Billy could say no more.

Aunt Hannah dropped herself a little wearily into a chair.

"I've just come from Marie's," she said.

"How is she?" asked Billy.

Aunt Hannah smiled, and raised her eyebrows.

"Well, just now she's quite exercised over another rattle--from her
cousin out West, this time. There were four little silver bells on it,
and she hasn't got any janitor's wife no