"But why didn't you write or wire me that you were coming? You
haven't acted much like a friend," she said, pointedly.

"Perhaps I wrote and never mailed the letter. Remember your
experience just now. You still hold the unlucky note in your hand.
Sometimes we think better of our intentions at the very instant when
they are going into effect. It is very mysterious to me that you
wouldn't mail that letter. I can only believe that you changed your
mind when you saw me."

"How absurd! As if seeing you could have anything to do with it!"

"You ought to tell me if my appearance here is liable to alter any
plan that letter is intended to perfect. Don't let me be an
inconvenience. You know I'd rather be anything than an
inconvenience. '

"It doesn't matter in the least; really, it doesn't. Your coming--"

The footman appeared on the landing above at that instant and said
something to her in a language Quentin could not understand. He
afterward heard it was French. And he always had thought himself a
pretty fair French scholar, too.

"Mamma has asked for me, Phil. Will you pardon me if I leave you
alone for a moment?" she said, arising and starting toward the grand
stairway. The letter, which she had forgotten for the moment, fell
from her lap to the rug. In an instant he had stepped forward to
pick it up. As he stooped she realized what had happened, and, with
a frantic little cry, stooped also. Their heads were close together,