me
gracious again. "Ferdy says there is nothing in it."

Could he be offended, or afraid--of himself? reflected Mrs. Lancaster.
Mrs. Wentworth's next observation disposed of this theory also. "You
ought to hear him talk of you. By the way, I have found out who that
ghost was."

Mrs. Lancaster threw a mask over her face.

"He says you have more than fulfilled the promise of your girlhood: that
you are the handsomest woman he has seen in New York, my dear," pursued
the other, looking down at her own shapely figure. "Of course, I do not
agree with him, quite," she laughed. "But, then, people will differ."

"Louise Wentworth, vanity is a deadly sin," said the other, smiling,
"and we are told in the Commandments--I forget which one--to envy
nothing of our neighbor's."

"He said he wanted to go to see you; that you had kindly invited him,
and he wished very much to meet Mr. Lancaster," said Mrs.
Wentworth, blandly.

"Yes, I am sure they will like each other," said Mrs. Lancaster, with
dignity. "Mamma also is very anxious to see him. She used to know him
when--when he was a boy, and liked him very much, too, though she would
not acknowledge it to me then." She laughed softly at some recollection.

"He spoke of your mother most pleasantly," declared Mrs. Wentworth, not
without Mrs. Lancaster noticing that she was claiming to stand as
Keith's friend.

"Well, I shall not be at home to-morrow," she began. "I have promised to
go out to-morrow afternoon."

"Oh, sha'n't you? Why, what a pity! because he said he was going to pay
his calls to-morrow, as he expected to leave to-morrow night. I think he
would be very sorry not to see you."

"Oh, well, then, I will stay in. My other engagement is of no
consequence."

Her friend looked benign.

Recollecting Mrs. Wentworth's expression, Mrs. Lancaster determined that
she would not be at home the following afternoon. She would show Mrs.
Wentworth that she could not gauge her so easily as she fancied. But at
the last moment, after putting on her hat, she changed her mind. She
remained in, and ended by inviting Keith to dinner that evening, an
invitation which was so graciously seconded by Mr. Lancaster that Keith,
finding that he could take a later train, accepted. Mrs. Yorke was at
the dinner, too, and how gracious she was to Keith! She "could scarcely
believe he was the same man she had known a few years before." She "had
heard a great deal of him, and had come around to din