tread of the charming Helene.

"Ah, Edward," said his sister, "you are alone. Have all our guests
gone?"

"Yes," was the reply, "and I am not sorry to have the house again to
ourselves."

"You, of course, include Helene among the latter," observed Rose
interrogatively.

"I do, certainly," was Edward's instant and cordial response, as he
offered Helene his hand to conduct her down the steps into the
conservatory and out on to the lawn. "Miss DeBerczy, of course, is one
of us, though you told me this morning that she, too, expressed a wish
to be gone."

Helene interrupted these remarks with the explanation that her wish to
take leave was owing to a mandate of her mother's which had reached
her that morning.

"We shall all be sorry at your leaving us so soon," was Edward's
courteous rejoinder. "But, when you go," he added, "you must permit me
to accompany you to 'Bellevue,' for I wish to pay my respects to your
mamma; it is a long time now since we met. Besides, I have to deliver
to her the cameos I brought her from England and the family trinkets
your uncle entrusted to my care."

"Mamma, I know, is eager to receive them, and will be delighted to
welcome you back. In her note, by the way, she tells me that Captain