ame yet."

"Well," she exclaimed, "they were queer people."

There was a moment's silence which she spent in looking curiously both at
him and his honeysuckle.

"What was her mother's name?" she asked at last.

"I don't know."

Mrs. Rutherford sat up in her chair.

"You don't know!"

"She was dying when I saw her first, and I never thought of asking."

"But her father?"

"I didn't think of asking that either, and nobody knew anything of them.
I suppose he was not in the frame of mind to think of such things
himself. It was all over and done with so soon. He went away as soon as
she was buried."

Mrs. Rutherford sank back into her chair.

"It's the strangest story I ever heard of in my life," she commented,
with a sigh of amazement. "The man must have been crazed with grief. I
suppose he was very fond of his wife?"

"I suppose so," said Tom.

There was another pause of a few moments, and from the thoughts with
which they occupied it Mrs. Rutherford roused herself with a visible
effort.

"Well," she said, cheerily, "let it be a pretty name."

"Yes," answered Tom, "it must be a pretty one."

He turned the bit of honeysuckle so that the moonlight fell on its
faintly tinted flower. It really seemed as if he felt he should get on
better for having it to look at and refer to.

"I want it to be a pretty name," he went on, "and I've thought of a good
many that sounded well enough, but none of them seemed exactly to hit my
fancy in the right way until I thought of one that came into my mind a
few moments ago as I sat here. It has a pleasant meaning--I don't know
that there's anything in that, of course; but I've got a sort of whim
about it. I suppose it's a whim. What do you think--" looking very hard
at the honeysuckle, "of Felicia?"

"I think," said his companion, "that it is likely to be the best name you
could give her, for if she isn't a happy creature it won't be your
fault."

"Well," said Tom, "I've set out to do my best and I'd like to give her a
fair start in every way, even in her name, though there mayn't be
anything in it, but I'd like to do it. I suppose it's time I should be
having some object in life. I've never had one before, and I've been a
useless fellow. Well, I've got one now by chance, and I'm bound to hold
on to it and do what I can. I want her to have what chances I can give
her on her side, and it came into my mind that Felicia----"

He stopped to consult the honeysuckle, as it