light manner for
a world which he was not long to know. And there was Louise with rouge
and powder on her cheeks to cover her tears---- That was courage----
She thought suddenly of "The Trumpeter Swan."

She spoke out of her thoughts. "Randy has sold his story."

He wanted to know all about it, and she repeated what Madge had said.
Yet even as she talked, that hateful rhyme persisted,

"_When the girls
Came out to play,
Georgie-Porgie
Ran away----_"

After dinner they went into the drawing-room so that Louise could play
for them. A great mirror which hung at the end of the room reflected
Louise on the piano bench in her baby frock. It reflected Madge, slim
and gold, with a huge fan of lilac feathers. It reflected Becky--in a
rose-colored damask chair, it reflected the three men in black. Years
ago there had been other men and women--the Admiral's wife in red
velvet and the same pearls that were now on Becky's neck---- She
shuddered.

As they drove home that night, the Major spoke to his wife of Becky.
"The child looks unhappy."

"She will be unhappy until some day her heart rests in her husband, as
mine does in you. Shall I spoil you, Mark, if I talk like this?"

When they reached their hotel there were letters. One was from Flora:
"You asked about George. He is not with us. He has gone to Nantucket
to visit some friends of his--the Merediths. He will be back next
week."

"The Merediths?" Madge said. "George doesn't know any--Merediths.
Mark--he is following Becky."

"Well, she's safe in Boston."

"She is going back. On Wednesday. And he'll be there." Her eyes were
troubled.

"Mark," she said, abruptly, "I wonder if Randy has left New York. Call
him up, please, long distance. I want to talk to him."

"My darling girl, do you know what time it is?"

"Nearly midnight. But that's nothing in New York. And, anyhow, if he
is asleep, we will wake him up. I am going to tell him that George is
at Siasconset."

"But, my dear, what good will it do?"

"He's got to save Becky. I know Dalton's tricks and his manners. He
can cast a glamour over anything. And Randy's the man for her. Oh,
Mark, just think of her money and his genius----"

"What have money and genius to do with it?"

"Nothing, unless they love each other. But--she cares---- You should
have seen her eyes when I said he had sold his story. But she doesn't
know that she cares, and he's got to make her know."