the nature of a command. He sent word by his equerry,
however, that the dinner to Mr. Carlton was only a pleasure
deferred, and that at Athens, where he understood Carlton was
also going, he hoped to have the pleasure of entertaining him
and making him known to his sisters.

"He is a selfish young egoist," said Carlton to Mrs. Downs.
"As if I cared whether he was at the dinner or not! Why
couldn't he have fixed it so I might have dined with his
sisters alone? We would never have missed him. I'll never
meet her now. I know it; I feel it. Fate is against me. Now
I will have to follow them on to Athens, and something will
turn up there to keep me away from her. You'll see; you'll
see. I wonder where they go from Athens?"

The Hohenwalds departed the next morning, and as their party
had engaged all the state-rooms in the little Italian steamer,
Carlton was forced to wait over for the next. He was very
gloomy over his disappointment, and Miss Morris did her best
to amuse him. She and her aunt were never idle now, and spent
the last few days of their stay in Constantinople in the
bazars or in excursions up and down the river.

"These are my last days of freedom," Miss Morris said to him
once, "and I mean to make the most of them. After this there
will be no more travelling for me. And I love it so!" she
added, wistfully.

Carlton made no comment, but he felt a certain contemptuous
pity for the young man in America who had required such a