began to cry. I stepped to her side, but she recovered almost
immediately.

"There! there!" she said, "don't mind me, Hosy. I've been holdin' that
cry back for a long spell. Now I've had it and it's over and done with.
After all, you and I have got each other left and we'll start fresh,
just as you say. And the first thing is for you to eat that toast and
drink that tea."

I smiled, or tried to smile.

"The first thing," I declared, "is for us to decide what story we shall
tell young Bayliss and the rest of the people to account for her leaving
so suddenly. I expect Herbert Bayliss here any moment. He came to see me
about--about her last evening."

Hephzy nodded.

"I guessed as much," she said. "I knew he came and I guessed what 'twas
about. Poor fellow, 'twill be dreadful hard for him, too. He was here
this mornin' and I said Frances had been called away sudden and wouldn't
be back to-day. And I said you would be away all day, too, Hosy. It was
a fib, I guess, but I can't help it if it was. You mustn't see him now
and you mustn't talk with me either. You must clear off that tray the
first thing. We'll have our talk to-morrow, maybe. We'll--we'll see the
course plainer then, perhaps. Now be a good boy and mind me. You ARE
my boy, you know, and always will be, no matter how old and famous you
get."

Herbert Bayliss called again that afternoon. I did not see him, but
Hephzy did. The young fellow was frightfully disappointed at Frances'
sudden departure and asked all sorts of questions as to when she would
return, her London address and the like. Hephzy dodged the questions as
best she could, but we both foresaw that soon he would have to be told
some portion of the truth--not the whole truth; he need never know that,
but something--and that something would be very hard to tell.

The servants, too, must not know or surmise what had happened or the
reason for it. Hephzy had already given them some excuse, fabricated on
the spur of the moment. They knew Miss Morley had gone away and might
not return for some time. But we realized that upon our behavior
depended a great deal and so we agreed to appear as much like our
ordinary selves as possible.

It was a hard task. I shall never forget those first meals when we
two were alone. We did not mention her name, but the shadow was always
there--the vacant place at the table where she used to sit, the roses
she had picked the morning before; and, afterward, in the drawing