re as reasonable a husband as he had been, on the whole, a brother,
his wife would have nothing to complain of.

Felix looked at her a moment, smiling. "I hope," he said, "not to be
thrown back on my reason."

"It is very true," Eugenia rejoined, "that one's reason is dismally
flat. It 's a bed with the mattress removed."

But the brother and sister, later in the evening, crossed over to
the larger house, the Baroness desiring to compliment her prospective
sister-in-law. They found the usual circle upon the piazza, with the
exception of Clifford Wentworth and Lizzie Acton; and as every one stood
up as usual to welcome the Baroness, Eugenia had an admiring audience
for her compliment to Gertrude.

Robert Acton stood on the edge of the piazza, leaning against one of
the white columns, so that he found himself next to Eugenia while she
acquitted herself of a neat little discourse of congratulation.

"I shall be so glad to know you better," she said; "I have seen so much
less of you than I should have liked. Naturally; now I see the reason
why! You will love me a little, won't you? I think I may say I gain
on being known." And terminating these observations with the softest
cadence of her voice, the Baroness imprinted a sort of grand official
kiss upon Gertrude's forehead.

Increased familiarity had not, to Gertrude's imagination, diminished
the mysterious impressiveness of Eugenia's personality, and she felt
flattered and transported by this little ceremony. Robert Acton
also seemed to admire it, as he admired so many of the gracious
manifestations of Madame Munster's wit.

They had the privilege of making him restless, and on this occasion he
walked away, suddenly, with his hands in his pockets, and then came back
and leaned against his column. Eugenia was now complimenting her uncle
upon his daughter's engagement, and Mr. Wentworth was listening with his
usual plain yet refined politeness. It is to be supposed that by this
time his perception of the mutual relations of the young people who
surrounded him had become more acute; but he still took the matter very
seriously, and he was not at all exhilarated.

"Felix will make her a good husband," said Eugenia. "He will be a
charming companion; he has a great quality--indestructible gayety."

"You think that 's a great quality?" asked the old man.

Eugenia meditated, with her eyes upon his. "You think one gets tired of
it, eh?"

"I don't know that I am prepared