ing to bolt," Ruth
cried, laughing. "I wish my hair were like that. It looks perfectly dear
whatever you do with it, and mine's only pretty when it's been put just
right."

"It certainly was put just right to-night then," said a third voice, and
Rosamond, Stephen's wife, appeared in Roberta's half-open door. "May I
come in? Steve hasn't come up yet, and I'm so comfortable in this loose
thing I want to sit up a while and enjoy it."

Rosamond looked hardly older than Roberta; there were times when she
looked younger, being small and fair. Ruth considered her quite as much
of a girl as either herself or Roberta, and welcomed her eagerly to the
discussion in which she herself was so much interested.

"Rosy," was her first question, "did _you_ think our guest was bored
to-night?"

"Bored?" exclaimed Mrs. Stephen in surprise. "Why should he be? He
didn't look it whenever I observed him. And if you had seen him when the
trio was playing you wouldn't have thought so. By the way, he has an eye
for colour. He noticed how your frock and Rob's went together in the
candle-light, with the harp to give a touch of gold."

"Did he say so?" cried Ruth in delight.

"He asked if the colour scheme was intentional. I said I thought it
probably was--on your part. Rob never thinks of colour schemes."

"Neither does any _man_," murmured Roberta from the depths of the hair
she was brushing with an energetic arm. "Unless it happens to be his
business," she amended.

"Rob doesn't like him," declared Ruth, "just because he has money and
good looks and doesn't work for his living, and likes pretty colour
schemes. He probably gets that from having seen so much wonderful art in
his travels. Aren't painters just as good as bridge-builders? Rob
doesn't think so. She wants every man to get his hands grubby."

Roberta turned about, laughing. "This one isn't even a painter. Go to
bed, you foolish, analytical child. And don't dream of the beautiful
guest who admired your corn-coloured frock."

"He only liked it because it set off your blue one," Ruth shot back.

"He said nothing whatever about my lovely new white gown," Rosamond
called after her.

Roberta came up to her sister-in-law from behind and put both arms about
her. "Stephen came and whispered in my ear to-night," said she, "and
wanted to know if I had ever seen Rosy look sweeter. I said I had--an
hour before. He asked what you had on, and I said, 'A gray kimono--and
the baby on her a