o light my own private farthing dip, and look for
this curious anomaly, an unselfish man.'

'You would not have to go far,' she returned innocently. 'There are two
of them in Rutherford at the present moment.'

But he only shook his head and laughed at this guileless flattery, and
at that moment, to his relief, Dr. Ross came into the room.

But as he took his place at the dinner-table he had a curious sensation,
as though he had been racked; and, though he laughed and talked, he had
an odd feeling all the time as though he were not quite sure of his own
identity; and all that evening a few words that Audrey had said haunted
him like a refrain:

'If you were my own brother, Michael, I could not want you more--if you
were my own brother I could not want you more!'

CHAPTER XXVIII

MICHAEL TURNS OVER A NEW LEAF

'My privilege is to be the spectator of my own life-drama, to be
fully conscious of the tragi-comedy of my own destiny; and, more
than that, to be in the secret of the tragi-comic itself.

* * * * *

'Without grief, which is the string of this venturesome kite, man
would soar too quickly and too high, and the chosen souls would be
lost for the race, like balloons, which, but for gravitation, would
never return from the empyrean.'--AMIEL.

Michael's return had greatly added to Audrey's happiness. In spite of
her lover's society and her natural joyousness of disposition, she had
been conscious that something had been lacking to her complete
contentment.

'No one but Michael could take Michael's place,' as she told him a
little pathetically that first evening.

But when a few days had elapsed she became aware that things were not
quite the same between them--that the Michael who had come back to her
was not exactly the old Michael.

The old Michael had been somewhat of an autocrat--a good-natured
autocrat, certainly, who tyrannised over her for her own good, and who
assumed the brotherly right of inquiring into all her movements and
small daily plans. They had always been much together, especially since
Geraldine's marriage had deprived her of sisterly companionship; and it
had been an understood thing in the Ross family that where Audrey was,
Michael was generally not far off.

Under these circumstances, it was therefore quite natural that Audrey
should expect her cousin to resume his usual habits. She had counted on
his