avvad
crimson, but he did not quite dare--yet. And being of New England, he
would always be parsimonious with flatteries.

Tudie hooked her brother's arm and said with an angelic spitefulness,
"We'll leave you two together," and swished away.

Orson immediately asked for the next dance and Em granted it. While they
were waiting for the rheumatic piano to resume they promenaded. Orson
noted that everybody they passed regarded them with a sly and cynical
amusement. It froze all the language on his lips, and the girl was still
breathing so fast from the dance that she apologized. Orson wanted to
tell her how glorious she looked with her cheeks kindled, her lips
parted, and her young bosom panting. But he suppressed the feverish
impulse. And he wondered more and more what ridiculous quality the
Carthaginians could have found in her who had returned in such splendor.

The piano exploded now with a brazen impudence of clamor. Orson opened
his arms to her, but she shook her head: "Oh, I cahn't dahnce again just
yet. You'd bettah find anothah pahtnah."

She said it meekly, and seemed to be shyly pleased when he said he much
preferred to sit it out. And they sat it out--on the porch. Moonlight
could not have been more luscious on Cleopatra's barge than it was
there. The piazza, which needed paint in the daylight, was blue enameled
by the moon. The girl's voice was in key with the harmony of the hour
and she brought him tidings from the East and from Europe. They were as
grateful as home news in exile.

He expected to have her torn from him at any moment. But, to his
amazement, no one came to demand her. They were permitted to sit
undisturbed for dance after dance. She was suffering ostracism. The more
he talked to her the more he was puzzled. Even Arthur did not appear.
Even the normal jealousy of a fiance was not evident. Orson's brain grew
frantic for explanation. The girl was not wicked, nor insolent. She
plainly had no contagious disease, no leprosy, no plague, not even a
cold. Then why was she persecuted?

He was still fretting when the word was passed that supper was ready,
and they were called in. Plates and napkins were handed about by
obliging young gallants; chicken salad and sandwiches were dealt out
with a lavish hand, and ice-cream and cake completed the banquet.

Arthur had the decency to sit with Em and to bring her things to eat,
but he munched grimly at his own fodder. Orson tagged along and sat on
the s