PAULA MARKHAM.

"Perhaps the Guides know," she said, smiling but quivering, too.
"Perhaps they're going to make it easier for me."




IV

HIS FIRST CALL


Dear Mr. Blake (read the letter): It was nice to get your note and
to know that you are back in town so soon. Of course you must come
to see me. I want Aunt Paula to know that all the complimentary
things I have said about you are true. We are never at home in the
conventional sense--but I hope Wednesday evening will do.

Cordially,

ANNETTE MARKHAM.

He had greeted this little note with all the private follies of lovers.
Now for the hundredth time, he studied it for significances, signs,
pretty intimacies; and he found positively nothing about it which he
did not like. True, he failed to extract any important information
from the name of the stationer, which he found under the flap of the
envelope; but on the other hand the paper itself distinctly pleased
him. It was note-size and of a thick, unfeminine quality. He approved