Mother's poky friends with a sparkle and charm that amazed them.
Presently Ward and the demure Amy Hawkes found her; the car was
waiting. Miss Field, Ward said, was no longer at the tea table;
she had left a message to the effect that she was walking home and
would be there as soon as they were.

He asked Amy and Nina, whose irrepressible gossip and giggling met
with only silence and scowls from his superior altitude, if they
knew why Miss Harriet had decided to walk. They stared at each
other innocently, on the brink of fresh laughter. No; they hadn't
the least idea.




CHAPTER IV


Royal Blondin went straight from Nina to the tea table, which was
almost deserted now. Harriet saw him coming, and she knew what
hour had come. She stood up as he reached her, and they measured
each other narrowly, with unsmiling eyes.

There was reason for her paleness to-day, and for the faint violet
shadows about her beautiful eyes. Harriet had lain awake deep into
the night, tossing and feverish. She had gotten up more than once,
for a drink of water, for a look from her balcony at the solemn
summer stars. And among all the troubled images and memories that
had trooped and circled in sick confusion through her brain, the
figure of this smiling, handsome man had predominated.