fair and purple skies.

And still Mr. Menemon rambled on. "I should have gone to his funeral,"
he said, "had you not come in. He is to be buried in Washington I hear.
Well, well! he was a brave man and a staunch friend. Yes, he was all of
that. Really, Eden, I ought to have gone. I suppose they will escort the
body to the station. Did you hear the drums when you went up-stairs? It
makes a man of my age feel that his turn may be next."

Mr. Menemon crossed the room and looked out of the window. "See, Eden,"
he continued; "there must be a whole regiment. Not his own, though. The
better part of that went down at Gettysburg. You remember, don't
you----"

With this Mr. Menemon turned with a haste he strove to conceal. "It's
almost dinner time," he added, inconsequently. "I will just change my
coat." And immediately he left the room.

For a moment Eden thought she heard his voice in the hall. Then all was
still again. She was wholly alone. She envied her father's friend who
lay in some catafalque across the square. And presently the sense of
desolation grew so acute that she threw herself prostrate on the lounge,
and clasping a cushion in her arms, she buried her face in its silk.

From the square beyond came a muffled roll, and on her shoulder the
touch of a hand. It was her father, she was sure. She half turned, her
cheeks wet with tears. "What is it?" she sobbed. "Father----"

"It is I, Eden." And through a rift of understanding there filtered the
sound of Usselex's voice. With the flutter of a bird surprised, she
looked up. She started, and would have risen, but the hand weighed her
down. She tried to move, and raising her arm as though to shield her
eyes from some distasteful sight, suddenly she extended it, and motioned
him back.

"Eden," he began.

"Don't speak to me!" she cried; and shaking herself from his hold, she
stood up and dashed the tears away. "Don't speak to me!" she repeated;
"and if anywhere within the purlieus of your being there is a spark of
shame, leave me, and never----"

"Eden, you are unjust."

"Ah, I am unjust, am I not? I am unjust, because I believed in you. I am
unjust, because I discover you in some coarse intrigue, I am unjust,
because I thought myself your wife. I am unjust, am I? Did you get my
note? Is it for that that you are here?"

"Eden, if you will listen a moment----"

"I have listened too long. Where is my father? Why is it you pursue me
here? Are you not satisfied w