hat sort of person, but I am. The worst of it is, she
calls me her brother, which is fatal."

"No, it isn't. It shan't be," said Aline. "I shall get her for you."

"Thank you very much," said I.

"I'm not joking. An idea is on its way to me. I've been seeing it dimly
for days, but its success depended a good deal on Mrs. Bal. Now, her
being afraid of me makes it easier. I can't lie here idle, with all this
going on--yet I can't let _him_ see me as I am. My eyes look hideous.
They're pink, like an albino's. Otherwise I wouldn't listen to the
oculist. But I must do something. I begin to see what I _can_ do, if
you'll go on helping me and yourself, and not be a fool."

"I won't be more of a fool than Nature made me," I assured her, "though
I may be a fool to love that girl."

"No, for you can make her care. Of course you can. She's hardly more
than a child."

"You were married at eighteen," I reminded my sister. "At least you
always tell people you were."

"If you were a woman, you'd be a thorough cat! It's true--I wasn't much
more, but _I_ was mature in mind. I'd seen the world. Barrie MacDonald
will make you happy. You'll play together all your lives, and she can
take my place, helping you to write stories. It will be quite a romance
for the newspapers. And when she's out of sight, out of mind with Ian
Somerled, he'll realize that she wasn't the right one. He'll come back
to me, and see that I was always meant for him."

"A woman's instinct is often right. Also many a heart is caught in the
rebound," said I, falling back on proverbs. And in this way, with the
talc that entered Aline's eyes, malice entered our hearts. Thus we took
up our parts of (alleged) villain and villainess.

* * * * *

Next morning, as early as I dared, I sent to ask if I might give Mrs.
Ballantree MacDonald a message from my sister. Word came back that she
would see me at once. Five minutes later I was knocking at the door of
her sitting-room, and, obeying her "Come in," found myself in the
presence of a Vision. She was in one of those tea-gown arrangements like
Aline's, only more so. She had a cap which, I fear, would have made
Aline's look, as they expressively say on the other side, "like thirty
cents." And if Morgan P. Bennett had seen the beautiful Barbara then, he
would have proposed without hesitating another second. That is, he would
have done so if Barrie hadn't come in before he began. She did com