the hall. There was
a yellow envelope upon his tray, though she had heard no ring at
the bell.

"Excuse me, ma'am. This message just kem for you, an' I signed for it at
the do'."

Carlisle thought instantly, Hugo!... And when, having quite forgotten
the man standing silent behind her, she broke open the envelope with
nervous fingers, the hope of her heart was at once confirmed:

Am coming to you. Arrive four-ten this afternoon. Wait for
me. H.C.H.C.

Did a tiny corner of her tightly closed mind open a little as she read?
_Wait for me...._

She turned back to Jack Dalhousie's representative with something like
eagerness, to find his eyes fixed upon her.

"Oh!--would it do any harm to wait a little while, do you think?--just
till this afternoon?"

"No, no," he said, in rather an odd voice, "it will do no harm now."

"Then I'll send word to you this afternoon--at five or six o'clock,"
said Cally, with vague flutterings of relief, of hope, perhaps. And
then, moved by a sudden impulse, she added: "I will tell you why I want
to wait. I am engaged to be married. I think I should tell my fiance,
before anything is done...."

To this V. Vivian made no reply. He was advancing to the door. And then
as he paused before the stricken Hun, and saw the glitter of a tear on
the piquant gold-and-black lashes, the young man's twisting heart seemed
suddenly to loosen, and he said quite simply:

"Won't you let me say how fine and brave a thing you're doing, how
splendid a--"

"Don't!" said Cally, recoiling instantly from she knew not what.
"_Don't!_... I'm not brave--_at all!_ Oh, no--that's just it...."

And then, looking down, she added somewhat pitifully: "But I really
didn't mean to do anything so bad...."

The alien turned hurriedly away. He went without another word.

The front door shut upon him. And Cally gave a little jump, hearing
above her the imperious tread of her mother.

XXI

That Day at the Beach, as we sit and look back at it; how
Hugo journeys to shield his Love from Harm, and Small
Beginnings can end with Uproars and a Proverb.

Canning arrived at the House of Heth shortly after four. He had had an
all-day journey in summer heat, and a bad night preceding. In the still
watches following his ladies' departure from New York, he had had time
for calm reflection, nothing else but time; and the more he calmly
reflected, the less could he understand his betrothed's s