ack to their first meeting, and bring in a sketch
of Pymantoning County Fair, and of the village itself and its social
conditions, with studies of Burton and his wife. Every point would
tell, for though his commensals were now all well-to-do New Yorkers, he
knew that the time had been with them when they lived closer to the
ground, in simple country towns, as most prosperous and eminent
Americans have done.

"Well," said Wetmore, "how long are you going to make us wait?"

"Oh, you mustn't wait for _me_," said Ludlow. "Once is enough to-night.
I'm not going to say what kept me."

This also was a success in its way. It drew cries of protest and
reproach from the ladies, and laughter from the men. Wetmore made
himself heard above the rest. "Mrs. Westley, I know this man, and I
can't let you be made the victim of one of his shameless fakes. There
was really nothing kept him. He either forgot the time, or, what is
more probable, he deliberately put off coming so as to give himself a
little momentary importance by arriving late. I don't wish to be hard
upon him, but that is the truth."

"No, no," said the hostess in the applause which recognized Wetmore's
mischievous intent. "I'll not believe anything of the kind." From her
this had the effect of repartee, and when she asked with the
single-heartedness which Wetmore had praised among her friends as her
strongest point, and advised her keeping up as long as she possibly
could, "It isn't so, is it, Mr. Ludlow?" the finest wit could not have
done more for her. The general beamed upon her over the length of the
table. Mrs. Rangeley said at his elbow, "She's always more charming
than any one else, simply because she _is_," and he made no effort to
turn the compliment upon her as she thought he might very well have
done.

Under cover of what the others now began saying about different
matters, Ludlow murmured to Mrs. Westley, "I don't mind telling _you_.
You know that young girl you said you would go with me to meet when I
should ask you?"

"The little school-mistress?"

"Yes." Ludlow smiled. "She isn't so very little, any more. It was she
who kept me. I found a dispatch at my place when I got home to-day,
telling me she was coming, and would arrive at six, and there was no
time to trouble you; it was half-past when I got it."

"She's actually come then?" asked Mrs. Westlay. "Nothing you could say
would stop her?"

"No," said Ludlow with a shrug. He added, after a momen