encounter was a proof of his complete trust
in her, and this surprise had been planned by him in advance for her
pleasure.

"This is wonderful, Eben," she declared impulsively. "I was so
astonished that it took my breath away. I didn't know, Stuart, that you
were on this side of the ocean."

"Such is fame," laughed Farquaharson with a mock disappointment, "with
my name on every ash barrel and every alley fence in this delightful
city!"

They were acquitting themselves rather adroitly, under the
circumstances, thought Eben, though their assumption of innocence was,
perhaps, a shade overdone.

CHAPTER XXII

As they took their seats at the table reserved for them, a conflict of
emotions made difficulty of conversation for two members of the trio.

Their prefatory talk ran along those lines of commonplace question and
answer in which the wide gap between their last meeting and the present
was bridged.

This, reflected Eben, was a part of the play designed to create and
foster the impression that they had really been as completely out of
touch as they pretended.

"And so you left us, an unknown, and return a celebrity!" Conscience's
voice and eyes held a hint of raillery which made Stuart say to himself:
"Thank God she has not let the fog make her colorless."--"When I saw you
last you were starting up the ladder of the law toward the Supreme
Court--and now you reappear, crowned with literary distinction."

A thought of those days when he had closed his law books and his house
in Virginia to begin looking out on the roofs and chimney pots of old
Greenwich village, rose to the Virginian's mind. It had all been an
effort to forget. But he smiled as he answered.

"I'm afraid it's a little early to claim celebrity. To-morrow morning I
may read in the Providence papers that I'm only notorious."

"You must tell me all about the play. You feel confident, of course?"
she eagerly demanded. "It seems incredible that you were having your
premiere here to-night and that I knew nothing of it--until now."

It not only seemed incredible, mused Eben: It _was_ incredible. He was
speculating upon what would have happened had he really been as blind as
he was choosing to appear.

"They say," smiled Stuart, "that every playwright is confident at his
first opening--and never afterwards."

It was hard for him to carry on a censored conversation, sitting here at
the table with his thoughts falling into an insistent refrai