alled
him to himself.

"I beg pardon," said Matthew, "but would you please tell me who lives
here?"

The small servant looked him up and down with growing suspicion.

"Miss Kavanagh lives here," she said. "What do you want?"

The surprise was so great it rendered him speechless. In another
moment the small servant would have slammed the door.

"Miss Ann Kavanagh?" he inquired, just in time.

"That's her name," admitted the small servant, less suspicious.

"Will you please tell her Mr. Pole--Mr. Matthew Pole," he requested.

"I'll see first if she is in," said the small servant, and shut the
door.

It gave Matthew a few minutes to recover himself, for which he was
glad. Then the door opened again suddenly.

"You are to come upstairs," said the small servant.

It sounded so like Ann that it quite put him at his ease. He followed
the small servant up the stairs.

"Mr. Matthew Pole," she announced severely, and closed the door behind
him.

Ann was standing by the window and came to meet him. It was in front
of Abner's empty chair that they shook hands.

"So you have come back to the old house," said Matthew.

"Yes," she answered. "It never let well. The last people who had it
gave it up at Christmas. It seemed the best thing to do, even from a
purely economical point of view.

"What have you been doing all these years?" she asked him.

"Oh, knocking about," he answered. "Earning my living." He was
curious to discover what she thought of Matthew, first of all.

"It seems to have agreed with you," she commented, with a glance that
took him in generally, including his clothes.

"Yes," he answered. "I have had more luck than perhaps I deserved."

"I am glad of that," said Ann.

He laughed. "So you haven't changed so very much," he said. "Except in
appearance.

"Isn't that the most important part of a woman?" suggested Ann.

"Yes," he answered, thinking. "I suppose it is."

She was certainly very beautiful.

"How long are you stopping in New York?" she asked him.

"Oh, not long," he explained.

"Don't leave it for another ten years," she said, "before letting me
know what is happening to you. We didn't get on very well together as
children; but we mustn't let him think we're not friends. It would
hurt him."

She spoke quite seriously, as if she were expecting him any moment to
open the door and join them. Involuntarily Matthew glanced round the
room. Nothing seemed altered.