trouble. For, even while they spoke of him, Barry
came, and Mary went down to him.

A little later, there were stumbling steps upon the stairs, and a voice
was singing--a strange song, in which each verse ended with a shout.

Roger, stepping out into the dark upper hall, looked down over the
railing. Mary, a slender shrinking figure; was coming with her brother
up the lower flight. Barry had his arm around her, but her face was
turned from him, and her head drooped.

Then, still looking down, Roger saw her guide those stumbling steps to
the threshold of the boy's room. The door opened and shut, and she was
alone, but from within there still came the shouted words of that
strange song.

Mary stood for a moment with her hands clenched at her sides, then
turned and laid her face against the closed door, her eyes hidden by
her upraised arm.

CHAPTER VIII

_In Which Little-Lovely Leila Sees a Picture in an Unexpected Place;
and in Which Perfect Faith Speaks Triumphantly Over the Telephone._

Whatever Delilah Jeliffe might lack, it was not originality. The
apartment which she chose for her winter in Washington was like any
other apartment when she went into it, but the changes which she
made--the things which she added and the things which she took away,
stamped it at once with her own individuality.

The peacock screen before the fireplace, the cushions of sapphire and
emerald and old gold on the couch, the mantel swept of all ornament
except a seven-branched candlestick; these created the first
impression. Then one's eyes went to an antique table on which a
crystal ball, upborne by three bronze monkeys, seemed to gather to
itself mysteriously all the glow of firelight and candlelight and rich
color. At the other end of the table was a low bowl, filled always
with small saffron-hued roses.

In this room, one morning, late in Lent, Leila Dick sat, looking as out
of place as an English daisy in a tropical jungle.

Leila did not like the drawn curtains and the dimness. Outside the sun
was shining, gloriously, and the sky was a deep and lovely blue.

She was glad when Lilah sent for her.

"You are to come right to her room," the maid announced.

"Heavens, child," said the Delilah-beauty, who was combing her hair, "I
didn't promise to be up with the birds."

"The birds were up long ago," Leila perched herself on an old English
love-seat. "We're to have lunch before we go to Fort Myer, and it is