boldly.
She caught him on the verandah, smoking alone, and watching him closely
to catch the effect of her attack, said suddenly:

"I want to ask you a question: are you in love with Alice Lancaster?"

Keith turned slowly and looked at her, looked at her so long that she
began to blush.

"Don't you think, if I am, I had better inform her first?" he said
quietly.

Mrs. Nailor was staggered; but she was in for it, and she had to fight
her way through. "I was scared to death, my dear," she said when she
repeated this part of the conversation, "for I never know just how he is
going to take anything; but he was so quiet, I went on."

"Well, yes, I think you had," she said; "Alice can take care of herself;
but I tell you that you have no right to be carrying on with that sweet,
innocent young girl here. You know what people say of you?"

"No; I do not," said Keith. "I was not aware that I was of sufficient
importance here for people to say anything, except perhaps a few persons
who know me."

"They say you have come here to see Miss Huntington?"

"Do they?" asked Keith, so carelessly that Mrs. Nailor was just thinking
that she must be mistaken, when he added: "Well, will you ask people if
they ever heard what Andrew Jackson said to Mr. Buchanan once when he
told him it was time to go and dress to receive Lady Wellesley?"

"What did he say?" asked Mrs. Nailor.

"He said he knew a man in Tennessee who had made a fortune by attending
to his own business."

Having failed with Keith, Mrs. Nailor, the next afternoon, called on
Miss Huntington. Lois was in, and her aunt was not well; so Mrs. Nailor
had a fair field for her research. She decided to test the young girl,
and she selected the only mode which could have been successful with
herself. She proposed a surprise. She spoke of Keith and noticed the
increased interest with which the girl listened. This was promising.

"By the way," she said, "you know the report is that Mr. Keith has at
last really surrendered?"

"Has he? I am so glad. If ever a man deserved happiness it is he. Who is
it?"

The entire absence of self-consciousness in Lois's expression and voice
surprised Mrs. Nailor.

"Mrs. Lancaster," she said, watching for the effect of her answer. "Of
course, you know he has always been in love with her?"

The girl's expression of unfeigned admiration of Mrs. Lancaster gave
Mrs. Nailor another surprise. She decided that she had been mistaken in
suspectin