launch party if I
had known you were coming here to-day," lied little Charley.

"Thank you so much!" I murmured; and I fancy that after this Hortense
hated me worse than ever. Well, why should I play her game? If anybody
had any claim upon me, was it she? I would get as much diversion as I
could from this encounter.

Hortense had looked at Charley when she spoke for my benefit, and it now
pleased me very much to look at him when I spoke for hers.

"I could almost give up the gardens for the sake of returning with you,"
I said to him.

This was most successful in producing a perceptible silence before
Hortense said, "Do come."

I wanted to say to her, "You are quite splendid--as splendid as you
look, through and through! You wouldn't have run away from any battle of
Chattanooga!" But what I did say was, "These flowers here will fade, but
may I not hope to see you again in Kings Port?"

She was looking at me with eyes half closed; half closed for the sake
of insolence--and better observation; when eyes like that take on
drowsiness, you will be wise to leave all your secrets behind you,
locked up in the bank, or else toss them right down on the open table.
Well, I tossed mine down, thereto precipitated by a warning from the
stranger in the launch:--

"We shall need all the tide we can get."

"I'm sure you'd be glad to know," I then said immediately (to Charley,
of course), "that Miss La Heu, whose dog you killed, is back at her work
as usual this morning."

"Thank you," returned Charley. "If there could be any chance for me to
replace--"

"Miss La Heu is her name?" inquired Hortense. "I did not catch it
yesterday. She works, you say?"

"At the Woman's Exchange. She bakes cakes for weddings--among her other
activities."

"So interesting!" said Hortense; and bowing to me, she allowed the
spellbound Charley to help her down into the launch.

Each step of the few that she had to take was upon unsteady footing, and
each was taken with slow security and grace, and with a mastery of her
skirts so complete that they seemed to do it of themselves, falling and
folding in the soft, delicate curves of discretion.

For the sake of not seeming too curious about this party, I turned from
watching it before the launch had begun to move, and it was immediately
hidden from me by the bank, so that I did not see it get away. As I
crossed an open space toward the gardens I found myself far behind the
other pilgrims, whose wa