telephone.

"Oh, is that you, Aunt Hannah?" he called crisply, a moment later.
"Well, if Billy's there will you tell her I want to speak to her,
please?"

"Billy?" answered Aunt Hannah's slow, gentle tones. "Why, my dear boy,
Billy isn't here!"

"She isn't? Well, when did she leave? She's been there, hasn't she?"

"Why, I don't think so, but I'll see, if you like. Mrs. Greggory and
I have just this minute come in from an automobile ride. We would have
stayed longer, but it began to get chilly, and I forgot to take one of
the shawls that I'd laid out."

"Yes; well, if you will see, please, if Billy has been there, and when
she left," said Bertram, with grim self-control.

"All right. I'll see," murmured Aunt Hannah. In a few moments her voice
again sounded across the wires. "Why, no, Bertram, Rosa says she hasn't
been here since yesterday. Isn't she there somewhere about the house?
Didn't you know where she was going?"

"Well, no, I didn't--else I shouldn't have been asking you," snapped
the irate Bertram and hung up the receiver with most rude haste, thereby
cutting off an astounded "Oh, my grief and conscience!" in the middle of
it.

The next ten minutes Bertram spent in going through the whole house,
from garret to basement. Needless to say, he found nothing to enlighten
him, or to soothe his temper. Four o'clock came, then half-past, and
five. At five Bertram began to look for Eliza, but in vain. At half-past
five he watched for William; but William, too, did not come.

Bertram was pacing the floor now, nervously. He was a little frightened,
but more mortified and angry. That Billy should have allowed Miss
Winthrop to call by appointment only to find no hostess, no message,
no maid, even, to answer her ring--it was inexcusable! Impulsiveness,
unconventionality, and girlish irresponsibility were all very
delightful, of course--at times; but not now, certainly. Billy was not
a girl any longer. She was a married woman. _Something_ was due to him,
her husband! A pretty picture he must have made on those steps, trying
to apologize for a truant wife, and to laugh off that absurd Bessie
Bailey's preposterous assertion at the same time! What would Miss
Winthrop think? What could she think? Bertram fairly ground his teeth
with chagrin, at the situation in which he found himself.

Nor were matters helped any by the fact that Bertram was hungry.
Bertram's luncheon had been meager and unsatisfying. That the kitchen