peared, the girl's eyelids were red, and as she
started up to meet her she put out her hands impulsively, and the
musician laughed a little as she accepted their grasp, well pleased with
the eloquent speechlessness.

When Geraldine waked the next morning her first vague thought was that
she must shake off sleep and help Mrs. Carder. That troubling sense
faded into another, also troubling. She was to spend a whole day,
perhaps several whole days, with the rather fearful splendor of the
mother of her knight. That in itself would not be so bad, Mrs. Barry had
shown a kind intention, but the knight himself might return at any hour.
Why had she come? Yet how refuse when her previous hostess had so
energetically thrown her out of the nest?

The sun had gone behind clouds. She rose, closed her windows, and made
her toilet, then descended to the hall where Mrs. Barry met her with a
pleasant greeting and they went in to breakfast.

"We're going to catch some rain, it seems," she said. "It is nice Miss
Upton is moved and settled."

"Yes," rejoined Geraldine, "and curtain-making can go on just as well in
the rain."

"You had a good sleep, I'm sure," said the hostess, regarding her
freshness.

"Yes, I am ready and full of energy to begin," said the girl. "I feel
that I am going to do the work quickly and go back sooner than Miss
Upton expects. It is nice for them to have some young hands and feet to
call upon."

"I hope you don't feel in haste," returned Mrs. Barry politely. She was
so courteous, so gracious, so powerful, and such leagues away from her,
Geraldine longed to get at the work, and know what to do with her hands
and her eyes.

Very soon the curtain material was produced. Mrs. Barry had the sewing
machine moved into the living-room where there was plenty of space for
the billowy white stuff, and they began their measuring.

The air was sultry preceding the storm, and a distant rumbling of
thunder was heard. The house door was left open as well as the long
French windows which gave upon the piazza.

The guest had slept late, delaying the breakfast hour, and the two had
been working at the curtains only a short time when a man, strange to
Mrs. Barry, walked into the living-room. Approaching on the footpath to
the house, Geraldine only had been visible to him through the window. He
believed her to be alone in the room, and the house door standing open
he had dispensed with the formality of ringing and walked in