Captain. "A pretty fix you two would
have been in, but for the Doctor. I'll ride down to the parsonage, or
whatever you call it, immediately after luncheon, and bring him back to
dinner, will he nill he--the Cure, too, if he'll come, for the Cure is a
very old friend."

Captain Danton was as good as his word. As soon as luncheon was over, he
mounted his horse and rode away, humming a tune. Kate stood on the
steps, with the pale November sunlight gilding the delicate rose-bloom
cheeks, and making an aureole round the tinsel hair watching him out of
sight. Eeny was clinging round her as usual, and Grace stopped to speak
to her on her way across the hall.

"You ought to go and practise, Eeny. You have not touched the piano
to-day, and to-morrow your teacher comes."

"Yes, Eeny," said Kate, "go attend to your music. I am going upstairs,
to my room."

She smiled, kissed her, opened the parlour door, pushed her in, and ran
up the broad staircase. Not to her own room, though, but along the quiet
corridor leading to the green baize door. The key of that door was in
her pocket; she opened it, locked it behind her, and was shut up with
the, as yet, invisible Mr. Richards.

Eeny practised conscientiously three hours. It was then nearly five
o'clock, and the afternoon sun was dropping low in the level sky. She
rose up, closed the piano, and went in search of her sister. Upstairs
and down stairs and in my lady's chamber, but my lady was nowhere to be
found. Grace didn't know where she was. Eunice, the rosy English maid,
didn't know. Eeny was perplexed and provoked. Five o'clock struck, and
she started out in the twilight to hunt the grounds--all in vain. She
gave it up in half an hour, and came back to the house. The hall lamps
were lighted upstairs and down, and Eeny, going along the upper hall,
found what she wanted. The green baize door was unlocked, and her sister
Kate came out, relocked it, and put the key in her pocket.

Eeny stood still, looking at her, too much surprised to speak. While she
had been hunting everywhere for her, Kate had been closeted with the
mysterious invalid all the afternoon.

"Time to dress for dinner, I suppose, Eeny," she said looking at her
watch. "One must dress, if papa brings company. Did you see Eunice? Is
she in my room?"

"I don't know. Have you been in there with Mr. Richards all the
afternoon?"

"Yes; he gets lonely, poor fellow! Run away and dress."

Eunice was waiting in her you