autumn," she said, "but this year I shall make them. September and part
of October would be pleasant here, I know. Has any one spoken of going?"

"Mrs. Bannert has, I think."

"You mean my dearest friend Rachel. But she will stay now that _I_ have
come; that is, if I succeed in keeping--somebody else. The Bishop has
been devoted to her, of course, and likewise the Tenor; the Haunted Man
and others skirmish on her borders. Even the Knight-errant is not, I am
sorry to say, above suspicion. Who has it especially been?"

"I do not know; every one seems to admire her. I think she has not
favored one more than another."

"Oh, has she not?" said Mrs. Lorrington, laughing. "It is well I have
come, Crystal. You are too innocent to live." She tapped her cheek as
she spoke, and then turned her face to the moonlight. "And whom do you
like best?" she said. "Mr. Dexter?"

"Yes," said Anne; "I like him sincerely. And you will find his name very
often there," she added, looking at the note-book by Helen's side.

"Yes, but the others too, I hope. What _I_ want to know, of course, is
the wicked career of the Knight-errant."

"But is not Mr. Dexter the Knight-errant?"

"By no means. Mr. Dexter is the Bishop; have you not discovered that?
The Knight-errant is very decidedly some one else. And, by-the-way, how
do you like Some One Else--that is, Mr. Heathcote?"

"Mr. Heathcote!"

"It is not polite to repeat one's words, Crystal. But--I suppose you do
_not_ like him; and half the time, I confess, he is detestable. However,
now that I have come, he shall behave better, and I shall make you like
each other, for my sake. There is just one question I wish to ask here:
has he been much with Rachel?"

"No--yes--yes, I suppose he has," murmured Anne, sitting still as a
statue in the shadow. The brassy moon had gone slowly and coldly behind
a cloud, and the room was dim.

"You suppose? Do you not know?"

"Yes, I know he has." She stopped abruptly. She had never before thought
whether Heathcote was or was not with Rachel more than with others; but
now she began to recall. "Yes, he _has_ been with her," she said again,
struck by a sudden pang.

"Very well; I shall see to it, now that I am here," said Helen, with a
sharp tone in her voice. "He will perhaps be sorry that I have arrived
just at the end of the season--the time for grand climaxes, you know;
but he will have to yield. My half-hour is over; I must go. How is the
Grand Llama?