dge
will be here presently. I am making arrangements to open the house."

He started. "Er--not to--er--live in it yourself, of course. I was sure Mr.
Dodge would find a way to get around the will so that you could let the
house--"

"I expect to live here myself, Wade," said she. After a moment, she went
on: "Will you care to stay on?"

He was suddenly confused. "I--I can't give you an answer just at this
moment, Mrs. Thorpe. It may be a few days before I--" He paused.

"Take all the time you like, Wade," she interrupted.

"I fancy I'd better give notice now, ma'am," he said after a moment. "To-
day will do as well as any day for that." He seemed to straighten out his
figure as he spoke, resuming a little of the unsuspected dignity that had
accompanied the silk hat and the fur-lined coat.

"I'm sorry," said Anne,--who was not in the slightest sense sorry. Wade
sometimes gave her the creeps.

"I should like to explain about the--ah--the garments you saw me
wearing--ah--I mean to say, I should have brought myself to the point of
telling you a little later on, in any event, but now that you have caught
me wearing of them, I dare say this is as good a time as any to get it
over with. First of all, Mrs. Thorpe, I must preface my--er--confession by
announcing that I am quite sure that you have always considered me to be
an honest man and above deception and falsehood. Ahem! That _is_ right,
isn't it?"

"What are you trying to get at, Wade?" she cried in surprise. "You cannot
imagine that I suspect you of--anything wrong?"

"It may be wrong, and it may not be. I have never felt quite right about
it. There have been times when I felt real squeamish--and a bit
underhanded, you might say. On the other hand, I submit that it was not
altogether reprehensible on my part to air them occasionally--and to see
that the moths didn't--"

"Air them? For goodness' sake, Wade, speak plainly. Why shouldn't you air
your own clothes? They are very nice looking and they must have cost you a
pretty penny. Dear me, I have no right to say what you shall wear on the
street or--"

Wade's eyes grew a little wider. "Is it possible, madam, that you failed
to recognise the--er--garments?"

She laid her hand upon Lutie's arm, and gripped it convulsively. Her eyes
were fixed in a fast-growing look of aversion.

"You do not mean that--that they were Mr. Thorpe's?" she said, in a low
voice.

"I supposed, of course, you would have remembered