beaded bag, which she
had laid on the table, and turned to adjust her veil before the mirror.
"If you will let me manage your life for a little while," she observed,
with an appreciative glance at the daring angle of the red hat, "I may
be able to do something with it, for I am a practical person as well as
a capable manager. Father calls me, you know, the repairer of
destinies."

"If I thought it would do any good, I'd go to the ball with you," said
Alice eagerly, while a delicate colour stained the wan pallor of her
face.

"Do you really think," asked Corinna brightly, "that John, able
politician though he is, is worth all that trouble?"

"Oh, it isn't just John," moaned Alice; "it is everything."

"Well, if I am going to repair your destiny, I must do it in my own
practical way. For a time at least we will let sentiment go and get down
to facts. As long as you haven't much sense, it is necessary for you to
make yourself as pretty as possible, for only intelligent women can
afford to take liberties with their appearances. The first step must be
to buy a hat that is full of hope as soon as you can. Oh, I don't mean
anything jaunty or frivolous; but it must be a hat that can look the
world in the face."

A keen interest awoke in Alice's eyes, and she looked immediately
younger. "If I can find one, I'll buy it," she answered. "I'll get
dressed in a little while and go out."

"And remember the hyacinth-blue dress. Have it made fresh for
to-morrow." Turning in the doorway, Corinna continued with humorous
vivacity, "There is only one little thing we must forget, and that is
love. The less said about it the better; but you may take it on my
authority that love can always be revived by heroic treatment. If John
ever really loved you, and you follow my advice, he will love you
again."

With a little song on her lips, and her gallant head in the red hat
raised to the sunlight, she went out of the house and down the steps
into her car. "Fools are very exhausting," she thought, as she bowed to
a passing acquaintance, "but I think that she will be cured." Then, at
the sight of Stephen leaving the Culpeper house, she leaned out and
waved to him to join her.

"My dear boy, how late you are!" she exclaimed, when the car had stopped
and he got in beside her.

"Yes, I am late." He looked tired and thoughtful. "I stopped to have a
talk with Mother, and she kept me longer than I realized."

"Is anything wrong?"

He set hi