pretty smile toward a
group in which he was standing.

In a minute he came forward and led her to the piano. "The Serenade," he
said.

Her eyes gleamed through the long lashes as she looked away from him.

"Ah," she answered, "I seem to have outgrown it!"

XXIII

AN INTERRUPTED CONFESSION

On the fourth day, because of a nasty twist at polo, the doctor ordered
Frank to rest. Coaching and golf had left the house deserted as he lay
on the couch in the second hall, thinking of Katrine's masterly deftness
in avoiding him.

"I have never known another woman who could have done it so well," he
thought. "She seems to have neither resentment nor remembrance. It is as
though the whole affair had never been. I wonder--"

The noise of a door opening at the far end of the corridor disturbed his
reflections, and as though walking into his thought, Katrine came down
the hall.

She wore a house-gown of pale blue, low in the neck, with long, flowing
sleeves. Under her arm she carried a music-score in regular school-girl
fashion, and she was humming to herself as she came.

Frank lay perfectly still; his eyes closed as she approached him.

"I am not going to bid you a good-morning, seeing that I am obliged by
doctor's orders to do it in this position. It doesn't seem respectful,"
he explained.

The surprise, the dimples, the gay, low laugh seemed such a part of her
as she paused beside his couch.

"You are ill?" she asked. "Or," with a twinkle of the wide eyes, "didn't
you want to go on the coaching-party?"

"I took a fall at polo yesterday. I was not at dinner last night. I am
flattered at the way you have dwelt upon my absence."

"I dined at the Crosbys' or I might have spent a sleepless night
concerning it. There were a great many people there. Your friend,
Dermott McDermott, for one. He is coming here to-day." Her face was
illumined by the spirit of teasing as she spoke. "Only," she went on,
with a sweet and instant sympathy, "I am hoping you are not badly hurt
or suffering."

"There is nothing, absolutely nothing, the matter, except the doctor. He
is all broken up over the accident, and says I must lie here or
somewhere for two or three days to cure a wrench in my back which I
didn't have."

Katrine laughed as she turned to go.

"I was intending to study some," she said, looking down at her music.
"Will it annoy you?"

A quick, amused smile came to his face at the question, and he looked up
with e