calculated allowances for his handicap, based on his coming reward from the rider. "I am afraid I am very dull," Adriance presently offered vague apology. "Are you?" "I mean, I am not entertaining." She lifted her eyes from her sewing to regard him with delicate raillery. "No. If you had been the entertaining sort of person, I could never have let you talk to me," she said. "But I think you had better go, please, now. Two imported nursemaids in bat-wing cloaks have been glowering at us for some time as it is. Holly and I shall be grateful to you a thousand years for this morning's rescue." He rose reluctantly, with a feeling of being ejected from the only serene spot on earth. "Thank you for letting me stay," he answered. "You are very kind. I----" His lowered glance had encountered her little feet, demurely crossed under the edge of her sober skirt. They were very small, serious shoes indeed; not a touch of the day's capricious fancy in decoration relieved them. But what struck to the man's heart was their brave blackness, the blackness of polish that could not quite conceal that they had been mended. Of course, he at once looked away, but the impression remained. "I hope Holly will not imitate Maît' Raoul any more," he finished lamely. The girl frankly turned to watch him ride away. Her natural interest seemed to the man more modest than any pose of indifference. But it seemed that she was appointed by Chance to make Tony Adriance dissatisfied and restive. It was altogether absurd, but the fanciful legend she had told him taunted and hunted his sullen thoughts. He took it with him to his home, when he changed into suitable attire to keep a luncheon engagement with Mrs. Masterson. It still accompanied him when he entered the great apartment house where the Mastersons lived. He had not wanted to act as Lucille Masterson's escort on this occasion. His attendance had been skillfully compelled. But now he hated the duty so much that he was dangerously near rebellion. He hesitated on the threshold of the
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