might possibly be, had yet led him thither.

Long French windows in the lower part of the house opened upon the
piazza, and from the second story ruffled white curtains fluttered to
the breeze. As the shield-shaped knocker clanged dully to Aleck's
stroke, a large, melancholy hound came slowly round the corner of the
house, approached the visitor with tentative wags of the tail, and
after sniffing mildly, lay down on the cool grass. It wasn't a house
to be hurried, that was plain. After a wait of five or ten minutes
Aleck was about to knock again, when a face appeared at one of the
side-lights of the door. Presently the door itself opened a few
inches, and elderly spinsterhood, wrapped in severe inquiry, looked out
at him.

"Can I see the lady, or either of the gentlemen, who recently arrived
here from the yacht, the _Jeanne D'Arc_?"

Aleck's voice and manner were friendly enough to disarm suspicion
itself; Sallie Kingsbury looked at him for a full second.

"Come in."

Aleck followed her into the wide, dim hall, and waited while she pulled
down the shade of the sidelight which she had lifted for observation.
Then she opened a door on the right and said:

"Set down in the parlor while I go and take my salt risin's away from
the stove. I ain't had time to call my soul my own since the folks
came, what with callers at all times of the day."

Sallie's voice was not as inhospitable as her words. She was mildly
hurt and grieved, rather than offended. She disappeared and presently
came back with a white apron on in place of the colored gingham she had
worn before; but it is doubtful if Aleck noticed this tribute to his
sex. Sallie looked withered and pinched, but more by nature and
disposition than by age. She stood with arms akimbo near the
center-table, regarding Aleck with inquisitiveness not unmixed with
liking.

"You can set down, sir," she said politely, "but I don't know as you
can see any of the folks. The man, he's up-stairs sick, clean out of
his head; and the young man, he's nursing him. Can't leave him alone a
minute, or he'd be up and getting out the window, f'rall I know."

Aleck listened sympathetically. "A sad case! And what is the name, if
I may ask, of the young man who is so ill?"

"Lor', I don't know," said Sallie. "The new mistress, her name's
Redmond; some kin of Parson Thayer's, and she's got this house and a
lot of money. The lawyer was here yesterday and got the will all fixed