b disposes
of him--as she certainly ought to do by this time, if she's not going to
take him. But she'd better think twice. He's a brilliant fellow, and he
has no rivals within hailing distance, in his line."

But Rosamond shook her head again. "He would never make her happy," she
breathed, with conviction. "Oh, I hope--I hope!"

Her hopes grew with Roberta's absence. Westcott had gone, for Ruth,
appearing at Rosamond's side, announced that Roberta was in her own
room, and would not be down again to-night.

"I think she has a headache," said the little sister. "Queer, for I
never knew Rob to have a headache before."

"The headache," murmured Louis, in Rosamond's ear, "is the feminine
defence against the world. A timely headache, now and then, is suffered
by the best of men--and women. Well--let her rest, Rufus. She'll be all
right in the morning."

Above them, by her open window, sat Roberta, for a little while, elbows
on sill, chin in hands. Then, presently, she stole downstairs again, out
by a side entrance, and away among the shrubbery, to the furthest point
of the grounds--not far, in point of actual distance, but quite removed
by its environment from contact with the world around. Here, stretched
upon the warm turf, her arms outflung, her eyes gazing up at the
star-set heavens above her, the girl rested from her encounter with a
desperate besieging force.

For a time, the last words she had heard that evening were ringing in
her ears--sombre words, uttered in a deep tone of melancholy, by a voice
which commanded cadences that had often reached the minds and hearts of
men and swayed them. "Is that all--_all_, Roberta? Must I go away with
_that_?"

She had sent him away, and her heart ached for him, for she could not
doubt the depth and sincerity of his feeling for her. Being a woman,
with a warm and kindly nature, she was sad with the disquieting thought
that anywhere under that starry sky was one whose spirit was heavy
to-night because of her. But--there had been no help for it. She knew
now, beyond a doubt, that there had been no help.

CHAPTER XXI

PORTRAITS

Revelations were in order in these days. Another of a quite different
sort came to Roberta within the week. On a morning when she knew Richard
Kendrick to be in Eastman she consented to drive with Mrs. Stephen to
make a call upon Mr. Matthew Kendrick, now at home and recovering
satisfactorily from his fall, but still confined to his room