him."

There was a moment of silence. Mrs. Blandford remained by the cabinet,
methodically arranging some small articles displaced by the return of
the book. "Well," she said, suddenly, "you don't tell me what mother had
to say. Of course, as you came home earlier than you expected, you had
time to stop THERE--only four doors from this house."

"Well, no, Joan," replied Blandford, in awkward discomfiture. "You see I
met Dick first, and then--then I hurried here to you--and--and--I clean
forgot it. I'm very sorry," he added, dejectedly.

"And I more deeply so," she returned, with her previous bloodless moral
precision, "for she probably knows by this time, Edward, why you have
omitted your usual Sabbath visit, and with WHOM you were."

"But I can pull on my boots again and run in there for a moment," he
suggested, dubiously, "if you think it necessary. It won't take me a
moment."

"No," she said, positively; "it is so late now that your visit would
only show it to be a second thought. I will go myself--it will be a call
for us both."

"But shall I go with you to the door? It is dark and sleeting,"
suggested Blandford, eagerly.

"No," she replied, peremptorily. "Stay where you are, and when Ezekiel
and Bridget come in send them to bed, for I have made everything fast in
the kitchen. Don't wait up for me."