ver; and then seas of glinting pale green
to the northward held the eye with their beauty. The air was soft and
languorous after a very warm day; now and then a piano, violin, or
mandolin sounded through open windows; the peace and beauty of rest was
over all.

They continued down Van Ness Avenue a few blocks, and unconsciously
turned into one of the dividing streets toward Franklin. Suddenly Arnold
felt his companion start, and saw she had taken her far-off gaze from
the landscape. Following the direction of her eyes, he also straightened
up. The disturbing object was a slight black column attached to a garden
fence and bearing in small gold letters the simple name, Dr. Herbert
Kemp.

As they approached nearer, Arnold knew of a certainty that there would
be more speaking signs of the doctor's propinquity. His forecasting was
not at fault.

Dr. Kemp's quaint, dark-red cottage, with its flower-edged lawn, was
reached by a flight of low granite steps, at the top of which lounged
the medical gentleman in person. He was not heaven-gazing, but seemed
plunged in tobacco-inspired meditation of the flowers beneath him.
Arnold's quick eye detected the pink flush that rose to the little ear
of his cousin. The sound of their footsteps on the stone sidewalk
came faintly to Kemp; he raised his eyes slowly and indifferently. The
indifference vanished when he recognized them.

With a hasty movement he threw the cigar from him and ran down the
steps.

"Good-evening," he called, raising his old slouch hat and arresting
their evident intention of proceeding on their way. They came up,
perforce, and met him at the foot of the steps.

"A beautiful evening," he said originally, holding out a cordial hand to
Arnold and looking with happy eyes at Ruth. She noticed that there was a
marked difference in his appearance from anything she had been used
to. His figure looked particularly tall and easy in a loose dark velvet
jacket, thrown open from his broad chest; the large sombrero-like hat
which had settled on the back of his head left to view his dark hair
brushed carelessly backward; an unusual color was on his cheek, and a
warm glow in his gray eyes.

"I hope," he went on, frankly transferring his attention to Ruth, "this
weather will continue. We shall have a magnificent autumn; the woods
must be beginning to look gorgeous."

"I shall know better to-morrow."

"To-morrow?"

"Yes; we leave for Beacham's to-morrow, you know."

"