Hawtrey without
embarrassing Sally. Sproatly hesitated in honest doubt as it became
evident that the situation was a delicate one. He decided on the
alternative. He would go back quietly, and keep Mrs. Hastings out of the
room if it could be done.

"I think you would be just as comfortable where you are," he informed
her when he joined the others.

"I'm rather doubtful," declared Mrs. Hastings. "Wasn't the stove
lighted?"

"Yes," answered Sproatly, "I fancy it was."

"But I sent you to make sure."

"The fact is, I didn't go in," said Sproatly uneasily. "There's somebody
in the room already."

"Any of the boys would go out if they knew we wanted it."

"Oh, yes," acquiesced Sproatly. "Still, you see, it's only a small room,
and one of them has been smoking."

Mrs. Hastings flashed a keen glance at him, and then smiled in a manner
he did not like. It suggested that while she yielded to his objections
she had by no means abandoned the subject.

"Well," she said, "what shall we do until supper? This stove won't draw
properly, and I don't feel inclined to sit shivering here."

Then Sproatly was seized by what proved to be a singularly unfortunate
inspiration.

"It's really not snowing much, and we'll go down to the depot and watch
the Atlantic express come in," he suggested. "It's one of the things
everybody does."

This was, as a matter of fact, correct. There are not many amusements
open to the inhabitants of the smaller settlements along the railroad
track, and the arrival of the infrequent trains is a source of
unflagging interest. Mrs. Hastings fell in with the suggestion, and
Sproatly was congratulating himself upon his diplomacy, when Agatha
stopped as they reached the door of the hotel.

"Oh," she said, "I've only brought one of my mittens."

"I'll go back for the other," responded Sproatly promptly.

"You don't know where I left it."

"Then I'll lend you one of mine. It will certainly go on," the man
persisted.

Agatha objected to this, and Sproatly, who fancied that Mrs. Hastings
was watching him, let her go, after which he and the others moved out
into the street. Agatha ran back to the room they had left, and, finding
the mitten, had reached the head of the stairway when she heard voices
behind her in the corridor. She recognized them, and turned in sudden
astonishment. Standing in the shadow she involuntarily waited. Not far
away a stream of light from the door of the room shone out into th