affected merriment which
sounded so like music to his ears. "If that were only true, I am sure
I should be most happy, for it has been my fortune so far to conjure up
only pleasure through day-dreaming--the things I like and long for
become my very own then. But if you mean, as I suspect, that I do not
enjoy the dirt and drudgery of life, then my plea will have to be
guilty. I, of course, grant their necessity, yet apparently there are
plenty who find them well worth while, and there should be other work
for those who aspire. Back of what you term practical some one has
said there is always a dream, a first conception. In that sense I
choose to be a dreamer."

"And not so unwise a choice, if your dreams only tend toward results."
He sat looking into her animated face, deeply puzzled by both words and
actions. "I cannot help noticing that you avoid all reference to my
meeting with Mr. Hampton. Is this another sign of your impractical
mind?"

"I should say rather the opposite, for I had not even supposed it
concerned me."

"Indeed! That presents a vastly different view from the one given us
an hour since. The distinct impression was then conveyed to both our
minds that you were greatly distressed regarding the matter. Is it
possible you can have been acting again?"

"I? Certainly not!" and she made no attempt to hide her indignation.
"What can you mean?"

He hesitated an instant in his reply, feeling that possibly he was
treading upon thin ice. But her eyes commanded a direct answer, and he
yielded to them.

"We were informed that you experienced great anxiety for fear we might
quarrel,--so great, indeed, that you had confided your troubles to
another."

"To whom?"

"Miss Spencer. She came to us ostensibly in your name, and as a
peacemaker."

A moment she sat gazing directly at him, then she laughed softly.

"Why, how supremely ridiculous; I can hardly believe it true, only your
face tells me you certainly are not in play. Lieutenant Brant, I have
never even dreamed of such a thing. You had informed me that your
mission was one of peace, and he pledged me his word not to permit any
quarrel. I had the utmost confidence in you both."

"How, then, did she even know of our meeting?"

"I am entirely in the dark, as mystified as you," she acknowledged,
frankly, "for it has certainly never been a habit with me to betray the
confidence of my friends, and I learned long since not to confide
secret