mewhat disturbing reflection that Helen Rexhill was a
most beautiful and distinguished looking girl. "That will make it all
the easier," she added generously.

"Of course, Senator Rexhill has no authority of his own in such a
matter, you know; but if we can get him interested, he may wake up
Washington in our behalf. Only, I don't see what can have brought him to
Crawling Water."

"Do you--do you know the daughter well?" Dorothy asked, with feminine
cogency. "I suppose you met her back East?"

"We've known each other for a number of years." He arose, his face
expressive of the delight he felt at the Rexhills' presence in town. "We
used to be good friends. You'll like her. But it's strange they didn't
tell me of their coming. You'll pardon me if I hurry over to the hotel,
won't you, Dorothy?"

She gently urged him out of the house.

"Of course! Don't waste a moment, and let me know just as soon as you
can what the outcome is. I do hope the Senator can settle all this
trouble."

"I want you to meet them right away," he called, over his shoulder, and
when he looked back for his answer, she nodded brightly.

But as she turned back into the cottage after watching him swing up the
street she was not at all sure that she would like Helen Rexhill.

CHAPTER V

TREACHERY

Overjoyed at the prospect of a peaceful solution of the problem which
confronted him, Wade walked rapidly toward the hotel, happy, too, in the
thought of meeting Helen Rexhill.

Whether he loved her with the single-hearted devotion which a man should
feel toward his future wife, he was not sure; but he was confident that
he did not love any one else. The idea of love in connection with
Dorothy had never occurred to him; she was his good friend, nothing
more. To Helen, belonged the romance of his life, fostered in other
years by the distinct preference she had shown for him. At one time,
they had been reported engaged, and although the word had never actually
passed between them, many things more significant than speech had
contributed to the warm regard which they felt for each other. Beneath
Helen's reputed coldness of heart lay intense feeling, and on numerous
occasions she had verged on unwomanliness in baring her moods to Wade,
in a way that many other men would have been quicker to fathom, and
perhaps to take advantage of, than he had been.

Now, the knowledge that she was close at hand, and that he might see her
at any moment, cause