s, while at the same time reserving the right to deny
the girl hers--well, thank God, I'm saved that embarrassment! Thanks
to you, you fox!" he added.

"Bless my wicked heart! I'm glad you've gone and that I'm out of it so
easy," the general manager soliloquized, as the door closed behind The
Laird.

He reached for the telephone and called Mrs. McKaye at The Dreamerie.

"Your husband is on his way home, Mrs. McKaye," he advised her. "The
girl is here, The Laird has met her and talked with her and is quite
happy over the situation. However, I want to warn you that you will
avoid unpleasantness by keeping from him the fact that you asked the
Brent girl to come back to Port Agnew. He thinks I did that, and I
have not seen fit, for reasons of my own, to deny it."

"Why, I asked you not to tell him, Andrew," she replied, surprised
that he should forget it.

"I know. But you had planned to tell him yourself if, after the girl
had arrived, you discovered he was secretly pleased that she had
come."

"Yes; that is true. However, since you say Hector is quite pleased
with the situation, why should I not tell him, Andrew?"

"I have a suspicion the news will trouble him. He is quite willing to
accept of the girl's services, as it were, but not at the behest of
any member of his family. Better hear what he has to say on the
subject before you commit yourself, Mrs. McKaye."

"Oh, I think I can be depended upon to manage Hector," she replied
confidently, and hung up, for already through the window she could see
The Laird's car taking the grade up Tyee Head. He arrived a few
minutes later and entered smilingly, rubbing his hands as indicative
of his entire satisfaction with the universe as constituted that
morning.

"My dears, I have wonderful news for you!" he announced.

Elizabeth, warned by her mother of the impending announcement, and
already in the latter's confidence regarding the long-distance
conversation with Nan Brent, interrupted him. She was a born actress.

"Oh, do tell us quickly, daddy dear," she gushed, and flew to throw
her arms round his neck. Over his shoulder she winked at Jane and her
mother and grimaced knowingly.

"Donald's going to pull through. The doctors feel certain he'll take
in the slack on his life-line, now that the Brent girl has suddenly
turned up. In fact, the lad has been holding his own since he received
a telegram from her some days back. I didn't tell you about that, my
dears, not