of shyness not habitual
to him, and a distrustful apprehension that perhaps his advent was not
of so much moment to the people there as to him. But their greeting was
so cordial on every hand that Mrs. Carling's remark that they had been
almost afraid he had forgotten them embarrassed while it pleased him,
and his explanations were somewhat lame. Miss Blake, as usual, came to
the rescue, though John's disconcert was not lessened by the suspicion
that she saw through his inventions. He had conceived a great opinion of
that young person's penetration.

His talk for a while was mostly with Mr. Carling, who was in a pleasant
mood, being, like most nervous people, at his best in the evening. Mary
made an occasional contributory remark, and Mrs. Carling, as was her
wont, was silent except when appealed to. Finally, Mr. Carling rose and,
putting out his hand, said: "I think I will excuse myself, if you will
permit me. I have had to be down town to-day, and am rather tired." Mrs.
Carling followed him, saying to John as she bade him good night: "Do
come, Mr. Lenox, whenever you feel like it. We are very quiet people,
and are almost always at home."

"Thank you, Mrs. Carling," responded John, with much sincerity. "I shall
be most glad to. I am so quiet myself as to be practically noiseless."

The hall of the Carlings' house was their favorite sitting place in the
evening. It ran nearly the whole depth of the house, and had a wide
fireplace at the end. The further right hand portion was recessed by the
stairway, which rose from about the middle of its length.

Miss Blake sat in a low chair, and John took its fellow at the other
angle of the fireplace, which contained the smoldering remnant of a wood
fire. She had a bit of embroidery stretched over a circular frame like a
drum-head. Needlework was not a passion with her, but it was understood
in the Carling household that in course of time a set of table doilies
of elaborate devices in colored silks would be forthcoming. It has been
deplored by some philosopher that custom does not sanction such little
occupations for masculine hands. It would be interesting to speculate
how many embarrassing or disastrous consequences might have been averted
if at a critical point in a negotiation or controversy a needle had had
to be threaded or a dropped stitch taken up before a reply was made, to
say nothing of an excuse for averting features at times without
confession of confusion.

The