"Ah!" The little lady's hands grew steady,--they had been
fluttering all over her lap. "I will see you to-morrow morning
at my father's house," she presently observed; and turned her
full attention to the stage.

Some three days after this Mr. Driscoll opened his house on the
Hudson to notable guests. He had not desired the publicity of
such an event, nor the opportunity it gave for an increase of
the scandal secretly in circulation against his daughter. But
the Ambassador and his wife were foreign and any evasion of the
promised hospitality would be sure to be misunderstood; so the
scheme was carried forward though with less eclat than possibly
was expected.

Among the lesser guests, who were mostly young and well
acquainted with the house and its hospitality, there was one
unique figure,--that of the lively Miss Strange, who, if
personally unknown to Miss Driscoll, was so gifted with the
qualities which tell on an occasion of this kind, that the
stately young hostess hailed her presence with very obvious
gratitude.

The manner of their first meeting was singular, and of great
interest to one of them at least. Miss Strange had come in an
automobile and had been shown her room; but there was nobody to
accompany her down-stairs afterward, and, finding herself alone
in the great hall, she naturally moved toward the library, the
door of which stood ajar. She had pushed this door half open
before she noticed that the room was already occupied. As a
consequence, she was made the unexpected observer of a beautiful