commented he, when the tale
was finished.

"There were two silver buckles," came sharply from Bob.

"Which amounts to the same thing," smiled the New Yorker.

Robert Morton vouchsafed no reply.

"Have your friends the Galbraiths met this--other lady?" asked Snelling
insinuatingly.

"No, not yet."

"I see."

There was something offensive in the observation; something, too, that
compelled Robert Morton even against his will to add with dignity:

"I am expecting to take Miss Hathaway over to see them some day soon."

He told himself, as he uttered the words, that he owed Howard Snelling
no explanation and that it was ridiculous of him to make one;
nevertheless he felt impelled to do so.

Mr. Snelling smiled superciliously.

"That will be very pleasant, won't it?" he remarked.

One could not have quarreled with the sentiment, but its blandness
conveyed an exasperating disbelief.

The young man bit his lip angrily.

At the same instant there was a sound at the door.

"Aunt Tiny wants to know--"

The three men glanced up simultaneously, and Mr. Snelling's jaw dropped
with amazement.

"I beg your pardon," murmured Delight. "I did not know there was any
one here."

"It's only Mr. Snelling, a friend of Bob's," Willie hastened to say.

"Mr. Snelling is also a friend of Mr. Galbraith's," interrupted Robert
Morton, enraged that it fell to him to perform the introduction. "This
is Miss Hathaway, Mr. Snelling."

"I am charmed to meet you, Miss Hathaway," Howard Snelling declared,
bending low over the girl's outstretched hand. "I did not realize you
were an inmate of the house." Then with a sidelong glance at Bob he
added: "Wilton certainly abounds in beautiful surprises."

As with unveiled wonder he scanned the exquisite face, Robert Morton,
looking on, could have strangled him with a relish.

CHAPTER XIV

THE SPENCES ENTER SOCIETY

For a week Howard Snelling came and went from the small, vine-covered
cottage on the bay, making himself so useful and so delightful that the
charm of his personality gradually obliterated the first unpleasant
impression Bob had gained of him. He worked hard but worked with such
unobtrusiveness that unless one scrutinized him closely the subtle
power that lay behind his hand and brain might have passed unsuspected.
Ever mindful that his role was that of the casual visitor, he listened
with appreciation to Willie's harmless gossip and whenever the little
old man