red in
the hall below.

"Mama!"

Mrs. Adams looked up. "It's all right," she said, in a loud whisper.
"Gertrude fell down the cellar stairs. Somebody left a bucket there,
and----" She was interrupted by a gasp from Alice, and hastened to
reassure her. "Don't worry, dearie. She may limp a little, but----"

Adams leaned over the banisters. "Did she break anything?" he asked.

"Hush!" his wife whispered. "No. She seems upset and angry about it,
more than anything else; but she's rubbing herself, and she'll be all
right in time to bring in the little sandwiches. Alice! Those flowers!"

"I know, mama. But----"

"Hurry!" Mrs. Adams warned her. "Both of you hurry! I MUST let him in!"

She turned to the door, smiling cordially, even before she opened it.
"Do come right in, Mr. Russell," she said, loudly, lifting her voice
for additional warning to those above. "I'm SO glad to receive you
informally, this way, in our own little home. There's a hat-rack here
under the stairway," she continued, as Russell, murmuring some response,
came into the hall. "I'm afraid you'll think it's almost TOO informal,
my coming to the door, but unfortunately our housemaid's just had a
little accident--oh, nothing to mention! I just thought we better
not keep you waiting any longer. Will you step into our living-room,
please?"

She led the way between the two small columns, and seated herself in one
of the plush rocking-chairs, selecting it because Alice had once pointed
out that the chairs, themselves, were less noticeable when they had
people sitting in them. "Do sit down, Mr. Russell; it's so very warm
it's really quite a trial just to stand up!"

"Thank you," he said, as he took a seat. "Yes. It is quite warm." And
this seemed to be the extent of his responsiveness for the moment.
He was grave, rather pale; and Mrs. Adams's impression of him, as
she formed it then, was of "a distinguished-looking young man, really
elegant in the best sense of the word, but timid and formal when he
first meets you." She beamed upon him, and used with everything she said
a continuous accompaniment of laughter, meaningless except that it was
meant to convey cordiality. "Of course we DO have a great deal of warm
weather," she informed him. "I'm glad it's so much cooler in the house
than it is outdoors."

"Yes," he said. "It is pleasanter indoors." And, stopping with this
single untruth, he permitted himself the briefest glance about the room;
then his e