eve much in the thousand
other men. Not one of them is here, and none may ever come, and if Ralph
really did intend to come to me at the seashore, I wish we had stayed
there. It is such a good place to find out just how people feel."

In this frame of mind she sat and thought and thought, until a servant,
who had been to the post office, came up and brought her a note from
Miriam Haverley.

The next morning Dora Bannister, in an open carriage, drawn by the
family bays, appeared at the door of the Witton mansion. Miss Panney,
with overshoes on and a little shawl about her, for the mornings were
beginning to be cool, was walking up and down between two rows of
old-fashioned boxwood bushes. She hurried forward, for she knew very well
that Dora had not come to call on the Wittons.

"Miss Panney," said the young lady, "I am on my way to Cobhurst, and I
thought you might like to go there, and so if you choose, I shall be glad
to take you with me."

"Now, my dear girl," said Miss Panney, "you are a trump. I always thought
you were, but I will not say anything more about that. I shall be
delighted to go with you, and we can talk on the way. If you will come in
or take a seat on the piazza, I shall be ready in five minutes."

As Miss Panney busied herself preparing for the drive and the call, her
mind was a great deal more active than her rapid fingers. She had been
intending to go to Cobhurst, but did not wish to do so until she had
decided what she should say to Ralph about the telegram she had sent him.
Until that morning, this had given her very little concern, but as the
time approached when it would be absolutely necessary to speak upon the
subject, she found that she was a good deal concerned about it. She saw
that it was very important that nothing should be said to rouse Ralph
into opposition.

But now everything seemed bright and clear before her. After Dora,
looking perfectly lovely, as she did this morning, had shone upon Ralph
for half an hour, or even less, the old lady felt that if the young man
asked her any questions about her telegram she would not in the least
mind telling him how she came to send it, giving him, of course, a
version of her motive which would make him understand her anxious
solicitude, in case anything had happened to any one dear to him, that
his arrival should not be delayed an instant, as well as the sympathetic
delight she would have felt in witnessing the joy his presence in Barport