o demonstrate that she herself can improve even upon her
own perfection. Those who had planned to devote the morning to packing
against the morrow's sailing found the voice of duty too weak to make
itself heard above the irresistible call to the open. Mr. and Mrs.
Thatcher seized the opportunity to drive again to Harrington Sound,
Merry and Huntington took a final walk to Elba Beach, while Cosden
insisted that Edith Stevens permit him to escort her to the Barracks and
the band concert. This left Ricky Stevens entirely out in the cold, but
he was so accustomed to it that he did not even notice that it had
happened again. Cheerfully lighting a cigarette, after the others had
departed, and swinging his stick with an energy deserving of better
things, he devoted the morning to making a final round of the
tobacco-shops, laying in a huge amount of additional smoking materials.

By afternoon all were again united, and set off together for Hamlen's
villa. Their host elected to receive them in the garden instead of at
the house, and as the guests passed through the rustic arbor, vivid in
the coloring of the _poinsettia_ which bore it down, each felt in
varying degree the dramatic effect of the reception. Hamlen stepped
quietly forward to receive them, clad in the familiar white doe-skin
suit which was never so effective as against its present background. His
manner was courtly, but the reserve his friends had seen broken down
during their visit again possessed him, and his face, even when he
smiled to welcome them, was reminiscent of some great renunciation.

"Forgive me for not meeting you when you first drove up," Hamlen said to
Marian. "In my sentimentality I preferred to greet you here. These
trees, these shrubs, these flowers," he indicated, "I planted one by
one. I tended them in their infancy, I have watched them in their
growth. To me they have personalities as much as human beings. They
represent my family, they are all I have, and, as I told you yesterday,
I want them to join me in this last meeting before you depart and leave
us to ourselves."

Their host's attitude was not fully appreciated except by the three who
knew him best, so it was natural that by degrees the party separated in
such a way that Mrs. Thatcher, Merry and Huntington were left with him
while the others explored the grounds in greater detail.

"For the first time in my life, Marian," Hamlen said, "I shall regret to
see a steamer pass my Point and