"He is very strong," she observed pensively. She lay back in her chair for
a few minutes as if dreaming. Suddenly she started up.

"What thoughtless people we are! Let us go back to the drawing-room, or
they will think something dreadful has happened."

"No, Mamma; I do not feel at all like going back. Stay here with Father
while I get our wraps."

Before Mrs. Levice could demur, Ruth had left the room. As she turned in
the direction of the stairs, she was rather startled by a hand laid upon
her shoulder.

"Oh, you, Louis! I am going for our wraps."

"Here they are. How is my aunt?"

"She is quite herself again. Thanks for the wraps. Will you call up the
carriage, Louis? We shall go immediately, but do not think of coming
yourself."

"Nonsense! Tell your mother you have made your adieux to Mrs. Merrill,
--she understands; the carriage is waiting."

A few minutes later the Levices and Louis Arnold quietly stole away. Mrs.
Levice has had an attack of hysteria. "Nothing at all," the world said,
and dismissed it as carelessly as most of the quiet turning-points in a
life-history are dismissed.