and loveliness and--aye, smartness.
She was smiling with unmistakable friendliness and recognition, and yet
he could have sworn he had not seen her before in his life. As if he
could have forgotten such a face! A sudden sense of enchantment swept
over him, indescribable, yet delicious.

She was coming toward him--still smiling shyly, her lips parted as if
she were breathing quickly from fear or another emotion. He set down his
coffee-cup without regard to taste or direction, his gaze fixed upon the
trim, slender figure in blue. He now saw that her dark eyes were filled
with a soft seriousness that belied her brave smile; a delicate pink had
come into her clear, high-bred face; the hesitancy of the gentlewoman
enveloped her with a mantle that shielded her from any suspicion of
boldness. Brock struggled to his feet, amazement written in his face.

"Good morning, Roxbury," she said, in the most impersonal of greetings.
Her smile deepened as the blankness increased in his face. In the most
casual, matter-of-fact manner, she appropriated the chair across the
table from his. "Please sit down, Roxy."

He sat down abruptly. For a single, tense, abashed moment they looked
searchingly into each other's eyes.

"Are you Raggles?" he asked politely.

"You poor man!" she cried, aghast. "Raggles is Edith's French poodle.
Has no one told you of the poodle?" She half whispered this. He began to
adore her at that very moment,--a circumstance well worth remembering.

"No one has told me of _you_, for that matter," he apologised,
thrilling with a delight such as he had never known before. "Would you
mind whispering to me just who you are? Am I supposed to be your
father--or what?"

"It is all so delightfully casual, isn't it?" she said. "I daresay they
forgot to tell you that you are a man of family. Didn't they mention me
in any way at all?" She pouted very prettily.

"No, they ignored you and Raggles and Tootles. Are there any more in my
family that I haven't met?"

"You see, we got to the station quite a bit ahead of Edith. That's how
you happened to miss meeting us. We saw you there, however. I recognised
you by your clothes. You seemed very unhappy. Oh, I forgot. You wanted
to know who I am. Well, I am your sister-in-law." She ordered coffee and
toast while he sat there figuring it out. When the waiter departed, he
leaned forward and said quite frankly,--

"You'll pardon me, I'm sure, but I can't understand how I was so
s