y to herself.
Cosden explained his present docility by saying that he always obeyed
his doctor's orders; Edith had discovered in that brief time two facts
unknown even to himself: that his confidence came only from a knowledge
of his own strength, that in treading new and unknown paths he was not
only willing to be led but accepted guidance gratefully.

After this important discovery, she intuitively came to a better
understanding of the man. "Men know more than they understand, and women
understand more than they know," some one has tritely said. Edith
Stevens was a woman, and understanding was enough; she did not crave to
know. When Cosden stated so flatly, "I always get what I go after," she
had thought him a tactless braggart, who deserved to be shown his place;
now, with this new light thrown upon his character, she understood his
remark quite differently. The man knew but one way to accomplish his
purpose, and that was to go directly at it, head-on, overpowering
opposition by the force of his momentum. In his beginnings, Edith
surmised, he had not always felt so confident, and these bold assertions
were made partly to give himself additional courage and partly to
conceal from the world the existence of any doubt as to his ultimate
success. What had been first a policy became a habit, and if Edith were
correct in her analysis Cosden was at the present moment repeating his
early experiences.

* * * * *

Time in Bermuda cannot be figured by calendar days. Whether this is due
to the evenness and perfection of the temperature, which so satisfies
the physical demands as to eliminate all desire for change, or to the
natural beauty which exorcises those sordid demands life elsewhere
compels, it would be difficult to determine; but the fact remains that
except for the sailing of the little steamers a week is like a long,
delicious day, with the nights a passing incident,--a curtain drawn for
a moment to deprive the vision of its wondrous panorama, lest the spirit
become satiated and thus less appreciative.

More than a fortnight had passed since Billy Huntington's spectacular
departure, yet no one suggested that vacation days were drawing to an
end. It was Thatcher who found least to occupy him, yet even he had
fallen beneath the spell and was content to drift. By this time Marian
was fully convinced that a match between Hamlen and Merry was
foreordained, and that her mission was to drag