ture. "I
hope you'll always trust me," he repeated. "You see I wouldn't like to
disappoint you _ever_" he went on gently.

She gave the strong fingers that held her own a firm little squeeze,
not knowing why she did it.

"Of course I will. Oh, you know I'll trust you--always--always." She
said it simply--like a child telling the truth. "I must be going," she
ventured faintly. "You will come to the dinner--I mean--to dine with
us as long as they are here--promise me!" Again she looked appealingly
into his eyes as if she were speaking in a dream.

"Yes, if you want me," he said softly, almost in a whisper, still
thrilled by the pressure of her warm little hand. He stood watching
her as she slowly re-crossed the compound. Then he went in and shut
the door of his cabin and stood for some moments gazing at the chair
in which she had been seated--his heart beating fast.

* * * * *

The dinner was all that Thayor could have wished it. In this he had
consulted Blakeman, and not Alice. The soup was perfect; so were
a dozen young trout taken from an ice-cold brook an hour before,
accompanied by a dish of tender cucumbers fresh from the garden and
smothered in crushed ice; so was the dry champagne--a rare vintage
of hissing gold poured generously into Venetian glasses frail as
a bubble, iridescent and fashioned like an open flower; so was the
saddle of mutton that followed--and so, too, were the salad and
cheese--and the minor drinkables and eatables to the very end.

Moreover, Alice was in her best humour and in her best clothes; the
doctor genial; Thayor beaming; Margaret merry as a lark; Holcomb's
ease and personality a delight (Mrs. Thayor had at the last moment
sent a special invitation by Margaret, and he had come)--and Jack a
never-ending joy. That rare something which made every man who knew
him love him, bubbled out of him as ceaselessly as the ascending
commotion in the golden vintage. Moreover, this good fellow was
overjoyed at the change in his host; he felt that Thayor's splendid
health was largely due to his advice.

Jack's repertoire was famous; he had been a prime favourite at the
University smokers for years, and so when dinner was over, and the
guests were grouped about the roaring fire in the living room, Sperry
next to Alice, Blakeman passing the coffee, liqueurs and cigars,
he was ready to answer any call. And thus it was that Thayor, amid
general applause, led--or rathe