the
first time the full force of what her statement implied, as a hurried
mental review of the past fortnight showed him that he had scarcely ever
been absent from her side. Indeed, it no longer seemed natural not to
be with her.

"Oh, I didn't mean to be rude," she said, "but I do like a day out of
the world occasionally. You know, when I come back here I forget for the
time that I've ever lived any other life than that which is associated
with this dear old place."

He thought grimly that a young lady who had been married four times
before she was twenty-five must have to undergo a considerable amount of
mental obliteration.

"I think you'd tire of it very soon if you had to live here always," he
said.

"I'm not sure," she replied. "I think--but of course you wouldn't
understand that--only, life on the stage isn't all bright and amusing,
and there are times when one simply longs for a quiet, old-world place
like this."

"I believe you'd like Blanford," he suggested.

"I should love it," she assured him. "But what would your father say to
me? I'd probably shock him out of his gaiters--if he wears them. Does
he?"

"I suppose so," said Cecil. The fact was that the raiment of the Bishop
of Blanford did not particularly interest him at that moment. He had
more important things to talk about, things that had no connection
whatsoever with the immediate future of the A. B. C. Company. Yet the
mention of his father caused him to stop and think, and thought, in this
case, proved fatal to sentiment. He thrust his hands into his pockets
and addressed himself to the more prosaic topics of life, saying:

"My excuse for intruding on you is that our troubles are by no means
over. The authorities, not content with driving us out of the United
States, are preparing to order us out of Canada as well, and the
question of where we are to go is decidedly perplexing."

"Oh, dear!" said the little woman, "I think I'll go into the convent
after all."

"That settles the difficulty as far as you're concerned. Do you think
they'd admit me?"

"Don't talk nonsense. What do the others say?"

"Oh, they say a good many things, but nothing practical, so I came to
you for advice."

"Well, to speak frankly," she replied, "if I were you, I'd drop us all
and run away home. It's much the easiest solution of the difficulty."

"Excuse me," he said. "I'm a gentleman, and besides--"

"Well, what?"

"Besides," he continued, thinking it b