the rim.

"I shall keep this glass. I must have some visible object to make sure
that this hasn't been a dream. Mrs. Sandford may send me the bill."

"You may kiss my hand, Mr. Hillard."

He bent quickly and kissed, not the hand, but the wrist where the marks
of his fingers still remained faintly. He squared himself, and gazed
long and steadfastly into her eyes. In that moment he seemed to her
positively handsome; and there was a flutter in her heart that she was
unable to define. On his part he realized the sooner he was gone the
better; there was a limit to his self-control.... He gained the street
somehow. There he stopped and turned. Did the curtain move? He wasn't
sure; but he raised his hat, settled it firmly on his head, and walked
rapidly away. He was rather proud of himself. He had conquered a hundred
temptations. And he confidently knew that it would be many a day before
she ceased to think of him. Was she single or married? Well, it mattered
not, one way or the other; he knew that long years ago this night had
been written and his fate summed up. Unhappy? There was more than one
mask. Once in his own room, however, the longing to see her face grew
terribly strong. He stood the glass on the mantel and stared at it. Why
must she go out of his life? What obstacle was there to stand between
them and a kindly friendship?

There was little sleep for him that night; and in the morning the first
thing he did was to pick up the wine-glass. It was all true. And then
his good resolutions melted and vanished. He must have one more word
with her, happen what might. So at ten o'clock he called a cab and drove
rapidly to the Sandford place. Snow had fallen during the night, and
many of the steps were still spotless white. Impossible! He leaned from
the cab and rubbed his eyes. Absolutely impossible! For, what did he
see? Wooden shutters over all the lower windows and the iron gates
closed before the doors! And not a footprint anywhere. This was
extraordinary. He jumped from the cab, ran up the steps, and rang the
bell, rang it ten times with minute intervals. And no one answered. Then
he heard a call from across the street. A man stood in one of the
area-ways.

"Nobody home!" he shouted. "Gone to Egypt."

"But there was some one here last night," Hillard shouted back.

"Last night? Guess you've got the wrong street and wrong house, young
man."

"But this is the Sandford place?"

"Nothing else."

"I was here las