orld in
general.

When Mrs. Melrose, delighted at the little attention from her
son-in-law, came smilingly in, five minutes later, Norma escaped
upstairs. She had Leslie's old room here when she spent the night, but
it was only occasionally that Alice spared her, for her youth and high
spirits, coupled with the simplicity and enthusiasm with which she was
encountering the new world, made her a really stimulating companion for
the sick woman.

Regina came in to hook her into a simple dinner gown, but Norma did not
once address her, except by a vague smile of greeting. Her thoughts were
in a whirl. Why had he done that? Was it just brotherly--friendliness?
He was much older than she--thirty-seven or eight; perhaps he had felt
only an older man's kindly----

But her face blazed, and she flung this explanation aside angrily. He
had no business to do it! He had no right to do it! She was furious at
him!

She stood still, staring blankly ahead of her, in the centre of the
room. The memory came over her in a wave; the odd, half-hesitating,
half-confident look in his eyes as his arms enveloped her, the faint
aroma of talcum powder and soap, the touch of his smoothly shaven cheek.

It was almost an hour later that she went cautiously downstairs. He was
gone--had been gone since half-past six o'clock, Joseph reported. Norma
went in to dinner with Mrs. Melrose, and they talked cheerfully of
Chris's return, of Leslie and Annie.

By eight o'clock, reading in Mrs. Melrose's upstairs sitting-room, that
first room that she had seen in this big house, eight months ago, Norma
began to feel just a trifle flat. Chris Liggett was one of the most
popular men in society, in demand everywhere, spoiled by women
everywhere. He had quite casually, and perhaps even absent-mindedly,
kissed his wife's young protegee upon meeting her after an absence, and
she had hastily leaped to conclusions worthy of a schoolgirl! He would
be about equally amused and disgusted did he suspect them.

"He likes you, you little fool," Norma said to herself, "and you will
utterly spoil everything with your idiocy!"

"What did you say, lovey?" the old lady asked, half closing her book.

"Nothing!" Norma said, laughing. She reopened her novel, and tried to
interest herself in it. But the thought of that quarter hour in the
study came back over and over again. She came finally to the conclusion
that she was glad Chris liked her.

The room was very still. A coa