moothness of her skin, reassured her. This morning, because
of awakened memories, she looked at herself more carefully than usual,
and was not discouraged. While she was in the tub she began to whistle
softly the tenor aria, "AH! FUYEZ, DOUCE IMAGE," somehow appropriate to
the bath. After a noisy moment under the cold shower, she stepped out on
the rug flushed and glowing, threw her arms above her head, and rose on
her toes, keeping the elevation as long as she could. When she dropped
back on her heels and began to rub herself with the towels, she took up
the aria again, and felt quite in the humor for seeing Dr. Archie. After
she had returned to her bed, the maid brought her letters and the
morning papers with her breakfast.

"Telephone Mr. Landry and ask him if he can come at half-past three,
Theresa, and order tea to be brought up at five."

When Howard Archie was admitted to Thea's apartment that afternoon, he
was shown into the music-room back of the little reception room. Thea
was sitting in a davenport behind the piano, talking to a young man whom
she later introduced as her friend Mr. Landry. As she rose, and came to
meet him, Archie felt a deep relief, a sudden thankfulness. She no
longer looked clipped and plucked, or dazed and fleeing.

Dr. Archie neglected to take account of the young man to whom he was
presented. He kept Thea's hands and held her where he met her, taking in
the light, lively sweep of her hair, her clear green eyes and her throat
that came up strong and dazzlingly white from her green velvet gown. The
chin was as lovely as ever, the cheeks as smooth. All the lines of last
night had disappeared. Only at the outer corners of her eyes, between
the eye and the temple, were the faintest indications of a future
attack--mere kitten scratches that playfully hinted where one day the
cat would claw her. He studied her without any embarrassment. Last night
everything had been awkward; but now, as he held her hands, a kind of
harmony came between them, a reestablishment of confidence.

"After all, Thea,--in spite of all, I still know you," he murmured.

She took his arm and led him up to the young man who was standing beside
the piano. "Mr. Landry knows all about you, Dr. Archie. He has known
about you for many years." While the two men shook hands she stood
between them, drawing them together by her presence and her glances.
"When I first went to Germany, Landry was studying there. He used to be