but I do not play that piece for
everybody."

"Not for me, Miss Dexie?"

"No."

"What's all this about a piece of music, Dexie? I didn't come here to hear
you two quarrelling," and her father smiled over at them. "Let us have the
piece you were playing first, Dexie. It sounded fairly well, the little I
heard of it."

"Choose something else, papa. Shall I play your favorite?" and she struck a
few chords.

"No, not that! What is the reason you can't play the one I ask for?"

"That piece of music is only for one pair of ears, and they are not yours,
papa, nor do they belong to Mr. Traverse. Name something else."

Her father, looked at her in surprise, and then laughed.

"You have raised my curiosity, Dexie. You will surely play it for me when I
ask you?" "No, papa; it is sacred to the memory of someone else."

"But what if I command you to do so?"

"You will not do that, papa dear, I know," and she looked over with a world
of entreaty in her eyes.

"Well, well, has it come to this!" he said, with a soft laugh. "Did I ever
expect to hear Dexie say such a thing to me! See how badly I am used,
Traverse; she actually refuses to obey me, knowing very well I cannot
punish her for disobedience. Well, well! who would think it of Dexie?"

"Perhaps it is one of her own compositions that she is trying to keep
hidden under a bushel, as it were," said Guy, with a sudden inspiration.

"Oh, now you are wrong! and, to prove it, you shall be made to listen to
one of my very own pieces as a punishment," and she turned again to the
piano.

"Dexie, is that your own?" when the last chords had died away.

"Yes, papa, all mine, and I have a verse or two composed to suit the music;
so be careful, or I'll inflict them upon you as well."

"Now, gentlemen," she added, "what else shall I favor you
with--instrumental music, or songs, ballads, whistling choruses, or what? I
await your orders. I have an extensive repertoire from which you may
select," and her fingers passed softly over the keys as she smilingly
waited.

"Then it is no use to ask for that one piece, Miss Dexie?" Guy said, in a
low voice.

"No, sir, not at all! I only play that when--well, when I am sentimentally
inclined, you know. Did I not say it was sacred to someone else?" and she
lifted a saucy face to Guy's gaze.

Then without a moment's pause Dexie began to sing, and she soon charmed
away the frown that had gathered over Guy's face on hearing her frank
ad