that in his mental turmoil that night she
had told him her story he had paid little attention to details, or
forgotten them later. He certainly had never alluded to the man since.
And this sudden impetuous plan was so like him that he needed no
foreign impulse.

But she answered with some hesitation: "I'd like it, of course. And
Judge Trent has nothing more for me to sign until the last minute.
But--a woman always has a thousand things to do before going on a
journey----"

"Your maid can do all that. And pack your trunks. She goes with you,
doesn't she? And you'll only need warm sweaters and skirts up there.
We never dress. You'll not need a maid."

"Well--but--do you mean to tell me that the whole thing is settled?"

"To the last detail. There'll be twelve of us, including Din."

"Really, Lee, you _are_ high-handed. You might have consulted me
first."

"No time to waste on argument. We'll only have a little over a week
there as it is. It takes a day to go and another to return, and you'll
need one day here in New York before you sail. I made up my mind you
should go if I had to take you by force. I _will_ have those last days
in the Adirondacks."

Her faint resentment vanished and she felt a languid sense of
well-being in this enveloping atmosphere of the tactless imperious
male, so foreign to her experience; of freedom from the necessity for
independent action; and the prospect was certainly enchanting.
Moreover, she would be able to avoid seeing Hohenhauer in surroundings
where this strange love-affair of hers had obliterated the past (for
the most part!), and she had found, for a time at least, happiness and
peace. She would see him in Vienna, of course, and she had no wish to
avoid him there; no doubt they would work together and as impersonally
as they had sometimes done in the past; but to see him here, even in
the drawing-room, which held no sacred memories, would be but another
and uglier blot on her already dimming idyl; and a subtle infidelity to
this man whose every thought seemed to be of her in spite of all he had
to inflame and excite his ego.

And if she remained and Hohenhauer wished to see her she could hardly
keep on making excuses for nearly a fortnight. So she merely smiled up
at Clavering, who was gazing down at her intently, and said softly: "Of
course I'll go. I always have sport things in my wardrobe and I think
it a wonderful idea. Now tell me who is going. Miss Dwig