ed.

He stopped abruptly and seized her arm.

"You know better," he answered.

For a moment she looked dizzily into his eyes. Then he broke the
tension by smiling.

"I guess we'd better turn back," he said below his breath.

It was evident that Monte was not quite himself at that moment. That
night she heard the roll of the ocean as she tried to sleep, and it
said many strange things to her. She did not sleep well.

The next morning they were on their way again, reaching the Hotel des
Roses at six in the afternoon. Henri was at the door to meet them.
Henri, he thought, had greatly improved since his last visit. Perhaps
Edhart, from his seat on high, had been instructing him. The man
seemed to understand better without being told what Monsieur Covington
desired. The apartments were ready, and it was merely a personal
matter between Monte and the garcon to have his trunk transferred from
the second floor to the third and Marie's trunk brought down from the
third to the second. Even Edhart might have been pardoned for making
this mistake in the distribution of the luggage, if not previously
informed.

That evening Marjory begged to be excused from dinner, and Monte dined
alone. He dined alone in the small salle-a-manger where he had always
dined alone, and where the last time he was here he had grown in an
instant from twenty-two to thirty-two. Now, in another instant, it was
as if he had gone back to twenty-two. It was even almost as if Edhart
had returned to life. The mellow glow of the long twilight tinted the
room just as it used to do. Across the boulevard he saw the
Mediterranean, languid and blue.

A thing that impressed Monte was how amazingly friendly every one
was--how amazingly friendly even the material objects were. His old
table in the corner had been reserved for him, but this time it had
been arranged for two. The empty chair opposite him was quite as
friendly as Marjory herself might have been. It kept him company and
humored his thoughts. It said, as plainly as it is possible for a
chair to speak:--

"Madame Covington is disappointed to think she could not join you this
evening, but you must remember that it is not to be expected of a woman
to stand these long journeys like a man. However, she will have
breakfast with you in the morning. That is something to look forward
to. In the meanwhile let me serve to remind you that she is
upstairs--upstairs in the room you used to o