the
roses. "Take these into the house, will you, and give them to one of
the women."

He took them from her.

"With pleasure! And then, if you will excuse us,--"

"I excuse no word which is spoken concerning your departure," she
declared. "To-night I give a little fete. We change our dinner into
what you call supper, and we will have the dining table moved out
under the trees there. You and your little friend must stop, and
afterwards my brother will take you back to London in his car, or I
will send you up in my own."

"You are too kind," Arnold answered. "I am afraid--"

"You are to be afraid of nothing," she interrupted, mockingly. "Is
that not just what I have been preaching to you? You have too many
fears for your height, my friend."

"We will put it another way, then. I was thinking of Miss Lalonde.
She is not strong, and I think it is time we were leaving. If you
could send us so far as the railway station--"

"There are no trains that leave here," she asserted; "at least, I
never heard of them. I shall go and talk to her myself. We shall
see. No, on second thoughts, she is too interested. You and I will
walk to the house together. That is one thing," she continued,
"which I envy my brother, which makes me admire him so much. I think
he is the most charmingly sympathetic person I ever met. Illness of
any sort, or sickness, seems to make a woman of him. I never knew a
child or a woman whose interest or sympathy he could not win
quickly."

"It is a wonderful thing to say of any man, that," Arnold remarked.

"Wonderful?" she repeated. "Why, yes! So far as regards children, at
any rate. You know they say--one of the writers in my mother's
country said--that men are attracted by beauty, children by
goodness; and women by evil. It is of some such saying that you are
thinking. Now I shall leave these flowers in the hall and ring the
bell. Tell me, would you like me to show you my books?"

She laid her fingers upon the white door of her little drawing-room
and looked at him.

"If you do not mind," he replied, "I should like to hear what Ruth
says about going."

This time she frowned. She stood looking at him for a moment.
Arnold's face was very square and determined, but there were still
things there which she appreciated.

"You are very formal, to-day," she declared. "You give too many of
your thoughts to your little friend. I do not think that you are
treating me kindly. I should like to sit with yo