rn that
silversmiths, for reasons which have never been fully explained, call
"Queen Anne." One of the men, however, devoted himself to the care of
the hot cakes of various subtle types which were inclosed in silver
covered dishes.

With the lowering of her eyebrows Mrs. Linton's voice lost its previous
inflection.

"I have been fortunate enough to hit upon something distinctly new in
that way"--she indicated the muffin dishes. "A cake that may be eaten
hot without removing one's gloves."

"What a boon!" cried Phyllis. "You got it at Vienna, of course."

"Of course. You will learn all about it when you come."

The able-bodied men withdrew, and before the door was quite closed
behind them, Ella was gazing at her friend, her face alight with
inquiry.

"Now pray explain yourself," she whispered. "Not engaged in any
sense--those were your words. What do they mean?"

"Take them literally, my Ella," said Phyllis.

"Literally? But you wrote to me that you had engaged yourself to marry
Mr. Holland?"

"And now I tell you by word of mouth that I have disengaged myself."

"Good Heavens! You, I fancied, would be the last girl in the world to
promise to marry a man and then back out of it."

"That was what I myself fancied up till Monday last."

"But how can you have changed your mind? Isn't it very unfortunate--just
when the man has become famous?"

"How could it be otherwise, Ella, when the man wrote so horrible a book
as that?"

"Horrible? Is it horrible? I had no idea. I'm no judge of what is
horrible in theology, or metaphysics, or whatever it is. But I do
profess to know when a man has made a hit, whether in theology or
anything else; and I perceive quite clearly that your Mr. Holland--well,
not your Mr. Holland, has made a distinct hit. What sort of face is that
you're making at me? Oh, I see. It's the face of the orthodox at the
mention of something not quite orthodox. Pshut! don't be a goose,
Phyllis."

"I don't intend. Have I not told you that I'm not going to marry Mr.
Holland?"

"That is like one of the phrases which you give to your father, so that
the people might think him clever. Orthodox! Who cares nowadays for what
is dully orthodox? Who ever heard of a hero in orthodoxy nowadays? The
thing is impossible. There may be, of course, thousands of orthodox
heroes, but one never hears anything of them. The planets Jupiter and
Saturn and Mercury and Mars and the rest of them come and go at their
app