ifferent from theirs. Moreover, in reminding Mrs. Weguelin of the steel
wasp, I had put my abruptness in "quotations," so to speak, by the
tone I gave it, just as people who are particular in speech can often
interpolate a word of current slang elegantly by means of the shade of
emphasis which they lay upon it.

So Mrs. Weguelin smiled and her dark eyes danced a little. "You remember
I said that, then?"

"I remember everything that you said."

"How much have you seen of the creature?" demanded Mrs. Gregory, with
her head pretty high.

"Well, I'm seeing more, and more, and more every minute. She's rather
endless."

Mrs. Weguelin looked reproachful. "You surely cannot admire her, too?"

Mrs. Gregory hadn't understood me. "Oh, if you really can keep her away,
you're welcome!"

"I only meant," I explained to the ladies, "that you don't really begin
to see her till you have seen her: it's afterward, when you're out of
reach of the spell." And I told them of the interview which I had not
been able to tell to Miss Josephine and Miss Eliza. "I doubt if it
lasted more than four minutes," I assured them.

"Up the river?" repeated Mrs. Gregory

"At the landing," I repeated. And the ladies consulted each other's
expressions. But that didn't bother me any more.

"And you can admire her?" Mrs. Weguelin persisted.

"May I tell you exactly, precisely?"

"Oh, do!" they both exclaimed.

"Well, I think many wise men would find her immensely desirable--as
somebody else's wife!"

At this remark Mrs. Weguelin dropped her eyes, but I knew they were
dancing beneath their lids. "I should not have permitted myself to say
that, but I am glad that it has been said."

Mrs. Gregory turned to her companion. "Shall we call to-morrow?"

"Don't you feel it must be done?" returned Mrs. Weguelin, and then she
addressed me. "Do you know a Mr. Beverly Rodgers?"

I gave him a golden recommendation and took my leave of the ladies.

So they were going to do the handsome thing; they would ring the
Cornerlys' bell; they would cross the interloping threshold, they would
recognize the interloping girl; and this meant that they had given it
up. It meant that Miss Eliza had given it up, too, had at last abandoned
her position that the marriage would never take place. And her own act
had probably drawn this down upon her. When the trustee of that estate
had told her of the apparent failure of the phosphates, she had hailed
it as an escape for h