re out of sight, then went into the house.

"Now, my dear Mrs. Travilla, shall I just treat you as one of ourselves,
and take you into my own breezy room?" asked Mrs. Balis, regarding Elsie
with an affectionate, admiring look.

"It is just what I should like, Mrs. Balis," Elsie answered, with a smile
so sweet that her hostess put her arm about her and kissed her.

"I can't help it," she said; "you take my heart by storm with your beauty,
grace, and sweetness."

"Thank you, and you need not apologize," Elsie said, returning the
embrace; "love is too precious a gift to be rejected."

"I think Mr. Travilla a very fortunate man, and so does my husband."

"And am not I a fortunate woman, too?"

"Ah, yes, Mr. Travilla is most agreeable and entertaining, handsome too;
and indeed I should think everything one could wish in a husband; as mine
is," she added laughingly. "I presume neither of us would consent to an
exchange of partners. Are you fond of children, Mrs. Travilla?"

"Very."

"Shall I show you mine?"

"I should like to see them, if you please."

Mrs. Balis at once led the way to the nursery, where she exhibited, with
much motherly pride and delight, her three darlings, the eldest five, the
second three years of age, the third a babe in the arms. They were
bright-eyed, rosy-cheeked children, full of life and health, but to
Elsie's taste not half so sweet and pretty as Rosebud.

Mrs. Balis next conducted her guest to her boudoir; a servant brought in
refreshments, consisting of a variety of fruits, cakes, and confections,
with wine sangaree and lemonade. After partaking of these, the ladies had
a long talk while awaiting the return of their husbands. The gentlemen
were gone much longer than had been anticipated, and I am not sure the
wives did not grow a little uneasy. At all events they left the boudoir
for the front veranda, which gave them a view of the avenue and some
hundred yards of the road beyond in the direction from which the travelers
must come. And when at length the two were descried approaching, in a more
leisurely manner than they went, there was a simultaneous and relieved
exclamation, "Oh, there they are at last."

The ladies stood up and waved their handkerchiefs. There was no response;
the gentlemen's faces were towards each other and they seemed to be
engaged in earnest converse.

"Unsuccessful," said Mrs. Balis.

"How do you know?" asked Elsie.

"There's an air of dejection about t