peajacket close about his throat and
crowding his cap to his ears, he descended the steps and with one of his
quick, decided movements plunged into the park, now silent and deserted.

As he neared the Seymour house he became conscious, from the glow
of lights gleaming between the leafless branches of the trees, that
something out of the common was going on inside. The house was ablaze
from the basement to the roof, with every window-shade illumined.
Outside the steps, and as far out as the curb, lounged groups of
attendants, while in the side street, sheltered by the ghostly trees,
there could be made out the wheels and hoods of carryalls and the glint
of harness. Now and then the door would open and a bevy of muffled
figures--the men in cloaks, the girls in nubias wound about their heads
and shoulders--would pass out. The Seymours were evidently giving a
ball, or was it--and the blood left his face and little chills ran loose
through his hair--was it Kate's wedding night? Pawson had said that
a marriage would soon take place, and in the immediate future. It was
either this or an important function of some kind, and on a much more
lavish scale than had been old Prim's custom in the days when he knew
him. Then the contents of Alec's basket rose in his mind. That was why
his father had sent the pheasants! Perhaps both he and his mother were
inside!

Sick at heart he turned on his heel and with quickened pace retraced his
steps. He would not be a spy, and he could not he an eavesdropper. As
the thought forced itself on his mind, the fear that he might meet some
one whom he would know, or who would know him, overtook him. So great
was his anxiety that it was only when he had left the park far behind
him on his way back to the Sailors' House, that he regained his
composure. He was prepared to face the truth, and all of it whatever it
held in store for him; but he must first confront his father and learn
just how he stood with him; then he would see his mother and Alec, and
then he would find St. George: Kate must come last.

The news that his father had offered to pay his debts--although he
did not intend that that should relieve him in any way of his own
responsibility to his uncle--kindled fresh hopes in his heart and buoyed
him up. Now that his father had tried repeatedly to repair the wrong he
had done it might only be necessary to throw himself on his knees before
him and be taken back into his heart and arms. To see