ted him until evening. They wound up an eventful day
at a theatre, and Mr. Carr, being anxious to do the thing well,
took them all the way home in a four-wheeler. A little sum in mental
arithmetic, which he worked on the way and submitted to the cabman at
the end of the journey, was found to be wrong.

The outing was not repeated. Mrs. Carr went about for a day or two with
the air of one who had returned from a long and fatiguing expedition;
and her husband, when he returned from business the day following and
changed into his slippers, paid such a warm tribute to the joys and
comforts of home that his niece abandoned all ideas of any further
jaunts. Wearied by the dulness and the monotony of the streets, she
began to count the days till her return. Her father's letters made
no mention of it; but the Salthaven news in them only increased her
eagerness.

She returned one day from a solitary ramble on Hampstead Heath to find
that Salthaven, or a whiff of it, had come to her. A deep voice, too
well known to be mistaken, fell on her ears as she entered the front
door, and hastening to the drawing-room she found her aunt entertaining
Captain Trimblett to afternoon tea. One large hand balanced a cup and
saucer; the other held a plate. His method of putting both articles
in one hand while he ate or drank might have excited the envy of a
practised juggler. When Joan entered the room she found her aunt, with
her eyes riveted on a piece of the captain's buttered toast that
was lying face downward on the carpet, carrying on a disjointed
conversation.

"I just looked in," said the captain, as Joan almost embraced him. "Mind
the tea!"

"Looked in?" echoed Joan.

"One tram, three buses--one of 'em a mistake--and my own legs," said the
captain. "I had no idea it was so far."

"People have no idea how far out we really are," said Mrs. Carr, looking
round with a satisfied smile. "I've noticed it before. Did you find the
air different, Captain Trimblett?"

"Very," said the captain with a sudden gasp, as he caught sight of the
piece of toast. "Very fine air. Very fine. Very--quite strong."

He shifted his feet restlessly and the toast disappeared. For a moment
Mrs. Carr thought that the floor had opened and swallowed it up.
Realizing that the day of useful miracles had passed, she gazed fixedly
at his left foot.

"Well," said the captain, turning a relieved face to Joan, "how is the
round of gayety? Are you tired of being a bu