o go, of course, but I shall probably have to decide
where in order to save my mind. But it will certainly be somewhere, so I
might as well be packing my trunks."

"And you will be away indefinitely, I suppose?"

"Yes, I imagine so."

"Dear me!" John ejaculated in a dismal tone.

They were sitting as described on a former occasion, and the young woman
was engaged upon the second (perhaps the third, or even the fourth) of
the set of doilies to which she had committed herself. She took some
stitches with a composed air, without responding to her companion's
exclamation.

"I'm awfully sorry," he said presently, leaning forward with his elbows
on his knees, his hands hanging in an attitude of unmistakable
dejection, and staring fixedly into the fire.

"I am very sorry myself," she said, bending her head a little closer
over her work. "I think I like being in New York in the spring better
than at any other time; and I don't at all fancy the idea of living in
my trunks again for an indefinite period."

"I shall miss you horribly," he said, turning his face toward her.

Her eyes opened with a lift of the brows, but whether the surprise so
indicated was quite genuine is a matter for conjecture.

"Yes," he declared desperately, "I shall, indeed."

"I should fancy you must have plenty of other friends," she said,
flushing a little, "and I have wondered sometimes whether Julius's
demands upon you were not more confident than warrantable, and whether
you wouldn't often rather have gone elsewhere than to come here to play
cards with him." She actually said this as if she meant it.

"Do you suppose--" he exclaimed, and checked himself. "No," he said, "I
have come because--well, I've been only too glad to come, and--I suppose
it has got to be a habit," he added, rather lamely. "You see, I've never
known any people in the way I have known you. It has seemed to me more
like home life than anything I've ever known. There has never been any
one but my father and I, and you can have no idea what it has been to me
to be allowed to come here as I have, and--oh, you must know--" He
hesitated, and instantly she advanced her point.

Her face was rather white, and the hand which lay upon the work in her
lap trembled a little, while she clasped the arm of the chair with the
other; but she broke in upon his hesitation with an even voice:

"It has been very pleasant for us all, I'm sure," she said, "and,
frankly, I'm sorry that it mu