Part 103 (1/2)

”Why, you dear boy, where did you come from?” she asked him in pleased surprise. ”I thought you were stretched at Mrs. Wentworth's feet in the--Where has she been this summer?”

Keith's brow clouded. He remembered when Wickersham was her ”dear boy.”

”It is a position I am not in the habit of occupying--at least, toward ladies who have husbands to occupy it. You are thinking of some one else,” he added coldly, wis.h.i.+ng devoutly that Mrs. Nailor were in Halifax.

”Well, I am glad you have come here. You remember, our friends.h.i.+p began in the country? Yes? My husband had to go and get sick, and I got really frightened about him, and so we determined to come here, where we should be perfectly quiet. We got here last Sat.u.r.day. There is not a man here.”

”Isn't there?” asked Keith, wis.h.i.+ng there were not a woman either. ”How long are you going to stay?” he asked absently.

”Oh, perhaps a month. How long shall you be here?”

”Not very long,” said Keith.

”I tell you who is here; that little governess of Mrs. Wentworth's she was so disagreeable to last winter. She has been very ill. I think it was the way she was treated in New York. She was in love with Ferdy Wickersham, you know? She lives here, in a lovely old place just outside of town, with her old aunt or cousin. I had no idea she had such a nice old home. We saw her yesterday. We met her on the street.”

”I remember her; I shall go and see her,” said Keith, recalling Mrs.

Nailor's speech at Mrs. Wickersham's dinner, and Lois's revenge.

”I tell you what we will do. She invited us to call, and we will go together,” said Mrs. Nailor.

Keith paused a moment in reflection, and then said casually:

”When are you going?”

”Oh, this afternoon.”

”Very well; I will go.”

Mrs. Nailor drove Keith out to The Lawns that afternoon.

In a little while Miss Huntington came in. Keith observed that she was dressed as she had been that evening at dinner, in white, but he did not dream that it was the result of thought. He did not know with what care every touch had been made to reproduce just what he had praised, or with what sparkling eyes she had surveyed the slim, dainty figure in the old cheval-gla.s.s. She greeted Mrs. Nailor civilly and Keith warmly.

”I am very glad to see you. What in the world brought you here to this out-of-the-way place?” she said, turning to the latter and giving him her cool, soft hand, and looking up at him with unfeigned pleasure, a softer and deeper glow coming into her cheek as she gazed into his eyes.

”A sudden fit of insanity,” said Keith, taking in the sweet, girlish figure in his glance. ”I wanted to see some roses that I knew bloomed in an old garden about here.”

”He, perhaps, thought that, as Brookford is growing so fas.h.i.+onable now, he might find a mutual friend of ours here?” Mrs. Nailor said.

”As whom, for instance?” queried Keith, unwilling to commit himself.

”You know, Alice Lancaster has been talking of coming here? Now, don't pretend that you don't know. Whom does every one say you are--all in pursuit of?”

”I am sure I do not know,” said Keith, calmly. ”I suppose that you are referring to Mrs. Lancaster, but I happened to know that she was not here. No; I came to see Miss Huntington.” His face wore an expression of amus.e.m.e.nt.

Mrs. Nailor made some smiling reply. She did not see the expression in Keith's eyes as they, for a second, caught Lois's glance.

Just then Miss Abigail came in. She had grown whiter since Keith had seen her last, and looked older. She greeted Mrs. Nailor graciously, and Keith cordially. Miss Lois, for some reason of her own, was plying Mrs.

Nailor with questions, and Keith fell to talking with Miss Abigail, though his eyes were on Lois most of the time.

The old lady was watching her too, and the girl, under the influence of the earnest gaze, glanced around and, catching her aunt's eye upon her, flashed her a little answering smile full of affection and tenderness, and then went on listening intently to Mrs. Nailor; though, had Keith read aright the color rising in her cheeks, he might have guessed that she was giving at least half her attention to his side of the room, where Miss Abigail was talking of her. Keith, however, was just then much interested in Miss Abigail's account of Dr. Locaman, who, it seemed, was more attentive to Lois than ever.