fame.'"

"Oh, how nice! I am not, at all, you know. Still, it is pleasant to
deceive people that way. Who said it?"

"Mr. Keith." Lois could not help blushing a little; but she had broken
the ice.

"And I have one to return to you. I heard some one say that you had 'the
rare gift of an absolutely direct mind.' That you were like George
Washington: you couldn't tell a lie--that truth had its home in your
eyes." Her eyes were twinkling.

"My! Who said that?" asked the girl.

"Mr. Keith."

Lois turned quickly under pretence of picking up something, but she was
not quick enough to hide her face from her friend. The red that burned
in her cheeks flamed down and made her throat rosy.

Mrs. Lancaster looked at the young girl. She made a pretty picture as
she sat leaning forward, the curves of her slim, light-gowned figure
showing against the background of blue. Her face was pensive, and she
was evidently thinking deeply.

"What are you puzzling over so?"

At the question the color mounted into her cheeks, and the next second a
smile lit up her face as she turned her eyes frankly on Mrs. Lancaster.

"You would be amused to know. I was wondering how long you had known Mr.
Keith, and what he was like when he was young."

"When he was young! Do you call him old now? Why, he is only a little
over thirty."

"Is that all! He always seems much older to me, I do not know why. But
he has seen so much--done so much. Why, he appears to have had so many
experiences! I feel as if no matter what might happen, he would know
just what to do. For instance, that story that Cousin Norman told me
once of his going down into the flooded mine, and that night at the
theatre, when there was the fire--why, he just took charge. I felt as if
he would take charge no matter what might happen."

Mrs. Lancaster at first had smiled at the girl's enthusiasm, but before
Lois had finished, she had drifted away.

"He would--he would," she repeated, pensively.

"Then that poor girl--what he did for her. I just--" Lois paused,
seeking for a word--"trust him!"

Mrs. Lancaster smiled.

"You may," she said. "That is exactly the word."

"Tell me, what was he like when--you first knew him?"

"I don't know--why, he was--he was just what he is now--you could have
trusted him--"

"Why didn't you marry him?" asked Lois, her eyes on the other's face.

Mrs. Lancaster looked at her with almost a gasp.

"Why, Lois! What are you talking about? Who s