do them. You must go to those ladies
you disappointed so this morning, and apologise--explain."

Dan laughed. "Why, it wasn't such a very ironclad engagement as all
that, Alice. They said they were going to drive out to Cambridge over
the Milldam, and I said I was going out there to get some of my traps
together, and they could pick me up at the Art Museum if they liked.
Besides, how could I explain?"

She laughed consciously with him. "Of course. But," she added ruefully,
"I wish you hadn't disappointed them."

"Oh, they'll get over it. If I hadn't disappointed them, I shouldn't be
here, and I shouldn't like that. Should you?"

"No; but I wish it hadn't happened. It's a blot, and I didn't want a
blot on this day."

"Oh, well, it isn't very much of a blot, and I can easily wipe it off.
I'll tell you what, Alice! I can write to Mrs. Frobisher, when our
engagement comes out, and tell her how it was. She'll enjoy the joke,
and so will Miss Wrayne. They're jolly and easygoing; they won't mind."

"How long have you known them?"

"I met them on Class Day, and then I saw them--the day after I left
Campobello." Dan laughed a little.

"How, saw them?"

"Well, I went to a yacht race with them. I happened to meet them in the
street, and they wanted me to go; and I was all broken up, and--I Went."

"Oh!" said Alice. "The day after I--you left Campobello?"

"Well--yes."

"And I was thinking of you all that day as--And I couldn't bear to look
at anybody that day, or speak!"

"Well, the fact is, I--I was distracted, and I didn't know what I was
doing. I was desperate; I didn't care."

"How did you find out about the yacht race?"

"Boardman told me. Boardman was there."

"Did he know the ladies? Did he go too?"

"No. He was there to report the race for the Events. He went on the
press boat."

"Oh!" said Alice. "Was there a large party?"

"No, no. Not very. Just ourselves, in fact. They were awfully kind. And
they made me go home to dinner with them."

"They must have been rather peculiar people," said Alice. "And I don't
see how--so soon--" She could not realise that Mavering was then
a rejected man, on whom she had voluntarily renounced all claim. A
retroactive resentment which she could not control possessed her with
the wish to punish those bold women for being agreeable to one who had
since become everything to her, though then he was ostensibly nothing.

In a vague way, Dan felt her displeasure with that