either side of her--yet such
solitude--so entirely unknown.

Restful, yes. And spiced with just the right pinch of mild adventure.

It really could not possibly have been better.

CHAPTER VII

NOT IN THE PLAN

As she rolled northward behind the miraculously erect and rigid
William, the emotion which had been so mildly exciting when she had
left her door grew in potency like a swiftly fermenting liquor. It was
both fearful and delightful. She was all a-flutter. This was a daring
thing that she was doing--the nearest to a real adventure that she had
engaged in since her girlhood. Suppose, just suppose, that some one
should recognize her from the sidewalk!

The thought sent a series of pricking shivers up and down her usually
tranquil spine.

Just as that fear thrummed through her, she saw, a few doors ahead, a
man come out of a residence hotel. He sighted the De Peyster carriage,
and paused. Mrs. De Peyster's heart stood still, for the man was Judge
Harvey. If he should try to stop her and speak to her--!

But Judge Harvey merely bowed, and the carriage rolled on past him.

Mrs. De Peyster's heart palpitated wildly for a block. Then she
began to regain her courage. Judge Harvey had, of course, thought her
Matilda. A few blocks, and she had completely reassured herself. There
was no danger of her discovery. None. Almost every one she knew was
out of town; she herself was known to be upon the high seas bound for
Europe; Matilda's gown and veil were a most unsuspicious disguise;
and William, her paragon of a William, so rigidly upright on the seat
before her--William's statuesque, unapproachable figure diffused about
her a sense of absolute security. She relaxed, sank back into the
upholstery of the carriage, and began fully to enjoy the rare May
night.

But a surprise was lying in wait for her as she came into a
comparatively secluded drive of Central Park. In itself the surprise
was the most trifling of events--so slight a matter as a person
twisting his vertebrae some hundred-odd degrees, and silently smiling.
But that person was William!

For a moment she gasped with amazed indignation. To think of William
daring to smile at her! But quickly she recognized that William, of
course, supposed her to be Matilda, and that the smile was no more
than the friendly courtesy that would naturally pass between two
fellow-servants. Her indignation subsided, but her wonderment
remained. To think that William co