as follows:

_Responsibility 1_: To keep peace with Connie, and yet
persuade him against or frighten him out of his present
assinine intentions.

_Responsibility 2_: To pull Hamlen out of the solitary life
which he had affected, and to force him to assume that
position in the world to which he rightly belonged.

_Responsibility 3_: To demonstrate to Mrs. Thatcher that her
unmotherly idea of making restitution to Hamlen by throwing
her daughter at his head was the product of an overwrought
sentimentality rather than a rational suggestion.

_Responsibility 4_: To become sufficiently intimate with
Merry, the direct or indirect occasion of the entire
complication, to be able to judge as to the probable outcome
of all the other responsibilities.

The sum total of his obligations appalled him, and he found himself
proceeding in a mental circle, making no progress beyond the
recapitulation. He was not displeased, therefore, when he found himself
interrupted in his reveries by a bell-boy who stood before him, holding
out a tray containing a telegram. He took it mechanically, wondering who
had located him in this island retreat. Opening the yellow envelope he
read the following message, sent by wireless from the "Arcadian":

"_That Cosden person has slipped it over on me this time,
but I depend on you to watch out for my interests with
Merry. She is the one best bet. Don't let that antique
vintage of 1875 annoy her with his attentions. I know I can
trust you. Please cable money to me in New York care of
Hotel Biltmore to pay for this message and other expenses to
Cambridge._

"BILLY."

Huntington groaned aloud as he twisted uncomfortably in his chair.
"Another responsibility to add to the others!" he cried, "and I believed
bachelor's life one of freedom and ease! If ever I get out of this mess
I'll bury myself in some monastery, and let its cold grey walls protect
me against the matrimonial madness of the world!"

* * * * *

XI

* * * * *

By a curious coincidence Edith Stevens' "morning constitutional" took
her in the direction of the "Hamilton," and by another coincidence,
equally curious, she met Thatcher, Cosden, and her brother as they
emerged from the hotel after their conference with Duncan. Cosden was
still in an elated mental co