ated home!

But suppose she shouldn't come?

CHAPTER XI

The telegram reached Courtland Friday evening, just as he was going to
the Dare dinner, and filled him with an almost childish delight. Not for
a long time had he had anything as nice as that happen; not even when he
made Phi Beta Kappa in his junior year had he been so filled with
exultation. It was like having a fairy-tale come true. To think there
had really been a woman in the world who would respond in that cordial
way to a call from the great unknown!

He presented himself in his most sparkling mood at the house where he
was to dine. There was nothing at all blue about him. His eyes fairly
danced with pleasure and his smile was rare. Gila looked and drooped her
eyes demurely. She thought the sparkle was all for her, and her little
wicked heart gave a throb of exultant joy.

Mrs. Dare was no longer a large, purple person. She was in full evening
dress, explaining that she and her husband had an engagement at the
opera after dinner. She resembled the fat dough people that the cook
used to fashion for him in his youth. Her pudgy arms so reminded him of
those shapeless cooky arms that he found himself fascinated by the
thought as he watched her moving her bejeweled hands among the trinkets
at her end of the glittering table. Her gown, what there was of it, was
of black gauze emblazoned with dartling sequins of deep blue. An aigret
in her hair twinkled knowingly above her coarse, painted face.
Courtland, as he studied her more closely, rejoiced that the telegram
had arrived before he left the dormitory, for he never could have had
the courage to come to this plump-shouldered lady seeking refuge for his
refined little Bonnie girl.

The father of the family was a little wisp of a man with a nervous laugh
and a high, thin voice. There were kind lines around his mouth and eyes,
indulgent lines--not self-indulgent, either, and insomuch they were
noble--but there was a weakness about the face that showed he was ruled
by others to a large extent. He said, "Yes, my dear!" quite obediently
when his wife ordered him affably around. There was a cunning look in
his eye that might explain the general impression current that he knew
how to turn a dollar to his own account.

It occurred to Courtland to wonder what would happen if he should
suddenly ask Mr. Dare what he thought of Christ, or if he believed in
the resurrection. He could quite imagine they would lo