tever breaks."

"Law, Ben Barry!" exclaimed Miss Mehitable with a start. "You've surely
caught me in my regimentals!"

Miss Upton's regimentals consisted of ample and billowy apron effects
over a short petticoat. Her hair was brushed straight off her round face
and twisted in a knot as tight as Charlotte's own; and she wore large
list slippers.

"Don't you care, Mehit. I look like a blackamoor myself. I had to see
you"--the young fellow grasped his friend's hands, his eyes sparkling.
"I'd kiss you if I was wearing a pint less dust. She's an angel, a star,
a wonder!" he finished vehemently.

Miss Upton forgot her own appearance, her lips worked, and her eyes were
eager. "Ain't she, ain't she?" she responded in excitement equal to his
own. "Is she comin'? When?"

"Heaven knows. She's a prisoner, with that brute for a jailer."

Miss Upton, who had been standing by the late supper-table in the act of
assisting Charlotte to carry off the wreck, fell into a chair, her mouth
open.

"And you left her there!" she cried at last. "You didn't knock him down
and carry her off!"

"Great Scott, how I wanted to!" replied Ben between his teeth, his fists
clenched; "but she wouldn't let me. There's something there we've got to
find out. She shook her head and signaled me to do nothing. He told her
to bid me go away and she obeyed him. Oh, Miss Upton, how she looked!
The most beautiful thing I ever saw in my life, but the most haunted,
mournful, despairing face--"

"Ben, you're makin' me sick!" responded Miss Mehitable, her voice
breaking. "Did you give the poor lamb my letter?"

"He wouldn't let me get near enough to do that; but I gave it to a
stupid-looking dwarf who was mowing the grass near by. I'm not even sure
he understood me. Perhaps he was deaf and dumb. I don't know; but it was
the best I could do. She showed me so plainly that I was only making it
harder for her by insisting on anything, there was nothing for me to do
but to come away, boiling." Ben began striding up and down the
living-room, his hands in his pockets, his restlessness causing Pearl to
leap up, barely escaping his heavy shoe. Her arched back and her
mistress's face both betokened an outraged bewilderment.

Mrs. Whipp's eyes and ears were stretched to the utmost. This autocratic
young upstart had broken into the house and nearly stepped on her pet.
All the same, if he hadn't done so, Miss Upton would still be keeping
secrets from her. She had felt