around the room. Already his heart was beginning to sink.

"Miss Fentolin is well, I hope?" he asked.

"Well, but a very naughty girl," her mother declared. "I let her go to
Lady Saxthorpe's to lunch, and now we have had simply the firmest letter
from Lady Saxthorpe. They insist upon keeping Esther to dine and sleep.
I have had to send her evening clothes, but you can't tell, Mr. Hamel,
how I miss her."

Hamel's disappointment was a little too obvious to pass unnoticed.
There was a shade of annoyance, too, in his face. Mr. Fentolin smoothly
intervened.

"Let us be quite candid with Mr. Hamel, dear Florence," he begged.
"I have spoken to my sister-in-law and told her the substance of our
conversation this morning," he proceeded, wheeling his chair nearer to
Hamel. "She is thunderstruck. She wishes to reflect, to consider.
Esther chanced to be away. We have encouraged her absence for a few more
hours."

"I hope, Mrs. Fentolin," Hamel said simply, "that you will give her to
me. I am not a rich man, but I am fairly well off. I should be willing
to live exactly where Esther wishes, and I would do my best to make her
happy."

Mrs. Fentolin opened her lips once and closed them again. She laughed
a little--a high-pitched, semi-hysterical laugh. The hand which gripped
her fan was straining so that the blue veins stood out almost like
whipcord.

"Esther is very young, Mr. Hamel. We must talk this over. You have known
her for such a very short time."

A servant announced dinner, and Hamel offered his arm to his hostess.

"Is Gerald away, too?" he asked.

"We do indeed owe you our apologies," Mr. Fentolin declared. "Gerald
is spending a couple of days at the Dormy House at Brancaster--a golf
arrangement made some time back."

"He promised to play with me to-morrow," Hamel remarked thoughtfully.
"He said nothing about going away."

"I fear that like most young men of his age he has little memory," Mr.
Fentolin sighed. "However, he will be back to-morrow or the next day. I
owe you my apologies, Mr. Hamel, for our lack of young people. We must
do our best to entertain our guest, Florence. You must be at your best,
dear. You must tell him some of those capital stories of yours."

Mrs. Fentolin shivered for a moment. Hamel, as he handed her to her
place, was struck by a strange look which she threw upon him, half
furtive, full of pain. Her hand almost clung to his. She slipped a
little, and he held her tightly. Then h