fter her hard-driven winter of teaching; and Martin
Wetherby, panting a little even in his thin summer suit, removing his
handsome Panama to mop a steaming brow.

The first evening was all Miss Lydia's, save that Sarah was coming over
later to stay the night, and again Jane sat in the rosewood and mahogany
dining room, served by the middle-aged maid who did not know that there
was a servant problem, and ate the reliable stock supper--the three
slices of pink boiled ham on the ancient and honorable platter of blue
willow pattern ware, the small pot of honey, the two kinds of preserves,
the hot biscuit, the delicate cups of not-too-strong, uncolored Japan
tea, the sugar cookies, the pale custard.

Miss Vail had missed her niece acutely, as she would have missed a lovely
elm from the street or the silhouette of the mountain which she got from
her bedroom window, but she had wanted the dear girl to be happy, and she
clearly was happy, brimmingly, radiantly, and she had gone down to her
twice for merry and bewildered little visits and had come thankfully home
again.

She beamed at her now across the table and insisted, as of old, that she
eat two of the three slices of pink ham shaved to a refined thinness, and
then they went into the pretty parlor and visited cozily until the little
spinster's head began to jerk forward in the pauses, and Sarah Farraday,
who had waited conscientiously until nine o'clock, appeared. Then Miss
Lydia went upstairs to take off her plump, snug things and slip into her
flannelette nightdress--the nights were still what she called "pretty
sharp," and get into bed and "read until she got sleepy."

"Hannah says she sneaks in every night and snaps off the light after
she's sound asleep," said Sarah. "It's a mercy she doesn't have to use a
lamp,--she'd have burnt the house down years ago."

"She 'doesn't sleep,'" said Jane, looking tenderly after her, plodding
plumply up the stairs, "she 'just rests her eyes for a moment.' Sally,
let's go up to my room and have a regular, old-time talk-fest!"

So they went up the narrow stairs with their arms entwined about each
other and took off their dresses and slipped into kimonos and let down
their hair, but they found a strange and baffling constraint.

"Sally, _dear_," Jane determinedly broke the spell, "what's the silly
matter with us?"

The blonde music teacher's eyes filled up with her ready tears.
"It's--you've been away so long, and we've drifted s