re it was hers. He went into
the summer-house, and sitting down on the rickety seat picked up the
silken thing and looked at its carved handle, which was made of some
rare wood that gave out an aromatic scent. Archer lifted the handle to
his lips.

He heard a rustle of skirts against the box, and sat motionless,
leaning on the parasol handle with clasped hands, and letting the
rustle come nearer without lifting his eyes. He had always known that
this must happen ...

"Oh, Mr. Archer!" exclaimed a loud young voice; and looking up he saw
before him the youngest and largest of the Blenker girls, blonde and
blowsy, in bedraggled muslin. A red blotch on one of her cheeks seemed
to show that it had recently been pressed against a pillow, and her
half-awakened eyes stared at him hospitably but confusedly.

"Gracious--where did you drop from? I must have been sound asleep in
the hammock. Everybody else has gone to Newport. Did you ring?" she
incoherently enquired.

Archer's confusion was greater than hers. "I--no--that is, I was just
going to. I had to come up the island to see about a horse, and I
drove over on a chance of finding Mrs. Blenker and your visitors. But
the house seemed empty--so I sat down to wait."

Miss Blenker, shaking off the fumes of sleep, looked at him with
increasing interest. "The house IS empty. Mother's not here, or the
Marchioness--or anybody but me." Her glance became faintly
reproachful. "Didn't you know that Professor and Mrs. Sillerton are
giving a garden-party for mother and all of us this afternoon? It was
too unlucky that I couldn't go; but I've had a sore throat, and mother
was afraid of the drive home this evening. Did you ever know anything
so disappointing? Of course," she added gaily, "I shouldn't have
minded half as much if I'd known you were coming."

Symptoms of a lumbering coquetry became visible in her, and Archer
found the strength to break in: "But Madame Olenska--has she gone to
Newport too?"

Miss Blenker looked at him with surprise. "Madame Olenska--didn't you
know she'd been called away?"

"Called away?--"

"Oh, my best parasol! I lent it to that goose of a Katie, because it
matched her ribbons, and the careless thing must have dropped it here.
We Blenkers are all like that ... real Bohemians!" Recovering the
sunshade with a powerful hand she unfurled it and suspended its rosy
dome above her head. "Yes, Ellen was called away yesterday: she lets