therefore, rather not be mixed up with her--at any rate, in the
imagination of a girl like Julia Macroyd; and as he left her side he drew
a long breath of relief and went and put down his teacup where he had got
it.

By this time the girl who was "pouring" had exhausted one of the two
original guards on whom she had been dividing her vision, and Verrian
made a pretence, which she favored, that he had come up to push the man
away. The man gracefully submitted to be dislodged, and Verrian remained
in the enjoyment of one of the girl's distorted eyes till, yet another
man coming up, she abruptly got rid of Verrian by presenting him to yet
another girl. In such manoeuvres the hour of afternoon tea will pass;
and the time really wore on till it was time to dress for dinner.

By the time that the guests came down to dinner they were all able to
participate in the exchange of the discovery which each had made, that it
was snowing outdoors, and they kept this going till one girl had the
good-luck to say, "I don't see anything so astonishing in that at this
time of year. Now, if it was snowing indoors, it would be different."

This relieved the tension in a general laugh, and a young man tried to
contribute further to the gayety by declaring that it would not be
surprising to have it snow in-doors. He had once seen the thing done in
a crowded hall, one night, when somebody put up a window, and the
freezing current of air congealed the respiration of the crowd, which
came down in a light fall of snow-flakes. He owned that it was in
Boston.

"Oh, that excuses it, then," Miss Macroyd said. But she lost the laugh
which was her due in the rush which some of the others made to open a