leave his mother; she was not feeling well."

"Quite right, very proper," murmured the rest of the party; but Mrs. Dale
added, "As there's no conversation, I'm afraid it would have been very
stupid; I guess he knew that. And I certainly should not have allowed
Henry to give up his seat to him." As she said this, she looked at Mr.
Denner, who felt, under that clear, relentless eye, his would have been
the seat vacated, if Dick Forsythe had come. Mr. Denner sighed; he had no
one to protect him, as Dale had.

"I wonder," said Miss Deborah, who was sorting her cards, and putting all
the trumps at the right side, "what decided Mr. Forsythe to spend the
summer here? I understood that his mother took the house in Ashurst just
because he was going to be abroad."

Mrs. Dale nodded her head until her glasses glistened, and looked at
Lois, but the girl's eyes were fastened upon her book.

"I think," remarked Mr. Dale, hesitating, and then glancing at his wife,
"he is rather a changeable young man. He has one view in the morning, and
another in the afternoon."

"Don't be so foolish, Henry," said his wife sharply. "I hope there's
nothing wrong in the young man finding his own country more attractive
than Europe? To change his mind in that way is very sensible." But this
was in a hushed voice, for Mr. Denner had led, and the room was silent
again.

At the next deal, Miss Deborah looked sympathetically at Mr. Dale. "I
think he is changeable," she said; "his own mother told me that she was