d have prevented all this if only
Leonetta hadn't dragged so on the way home!"

And then, as they approached the outskirts of Brineweald, they quickly
decided on their plan of action. It was settled that only Mrs.
Delarayne, Leonetta, and Stephen should ever know the truth about the
accident, and that, even so, Leonetta should not be told until she was
sensible enough to see how inevitable and how "natural" it was.
Meanwhile, everyone was to believe that Lord Henry had made a fool of
himself,--a fact which, as both he and Cleopatra knew, would afford
infinite satisfaction to Miss Mallowcoid, Denis, and the baronet.

* * * * *

Two months later, at about half-past eleven on a drizzly October
morning, there was a small and fashionable-looking crowd assembled near
the edge of one of the quays at the East India docks, and as the huge
Oriental liner moved slowly out into the Thames, five people on its
upper deck waved frantically towards this group. They were Cleopatra,
Lord Henry, the Tribes, and young Stephen Fearwell.

Again and again Lord Henry waved his hat, and again and again, in the
interval of putting it to her eyes, Mrs. Delarayne waved her tiny lace
handkerchief back at him.

He noticed that the brave woman was surviving wonderfully the strain of
losing for a while the beloved son that she had at last found; but as he
turned to call Cleopatra's attention to this, he found that he was
obliged to suppress the intended remark for fear of making an ass of
himself.

The gigantic steamer grew smaller and smaller, the group on the quay
still waved and waved, and then, at last, nothing more could be seen of
the travellers.

"Is it a trying journey to China?" Leonetta asked of Aubrey St. Maur,
jerking her arm which was enlocked in his, as they turned away from the
sight of the oily harbour water.

"Hush!" said St. Maur, glancing ominously at Mrs. Delarayne, who was
staggering along between Sir Joseph and Agatha Fearwell's father. "Poor
Peachy seems very much upset, doesn't she?"

"Yes, you see," Leonetta replied, "Henry always was her star turn."

_VISITORS BY NIGHT_[2]

_At that deep hour 'twixt midnight and the dawn,
When silence and the darkness strive in vain
For mastery, and Morpheus hath withdrawn
His friendly ward, not to return again;
Lo! Fancy's two-winged doorway wide doth yawn
And uninvited guests arrive amain.
A fatef