ed
after dinner, and there had been word from Mr. Winscombe; he would be
obliged to return to Maryland, and trusted that Ludowika would not be an
onerous charge. David was to take Myrtle and Caroline back with him to
the city, for an exemplary Quaker party. "There's no good asking you,"
he told Howat, lounging in the door of the counting room. David was
flushed, his sleeve coated with dust. "Caroline," he exclaimed, "is as
strong as a forgeman; she upset me on the grass as quickly as you
please, hooked her knee behind me, and there I was. She picked me up,
too, and laughed at me," he stopped, lost in thought. "Myrtle's really
beautiful," he said again; "Caroline's not a thing to look at, and yet,
do you know, a--a man looks at her. She is wonderfully graceful."

Howat gave Caroline the vigorous stamp of his brotherly approval. "She
understands a lot, for a girl," he admitted. "Of course Myrtle's a
particular peach, but I'd never go to her if a buckle--" he stopped
abruptly as Myrtle appeared at David's side. "Isn't he industrious?"
she said indifferently. "You'd never guess how father's at him. Have you
heard, Howat--Mrs. Winscombe will be here perhaps a month. It's a wonder
you haven't gone away, you are so frightfully annoyed by people. Last
night you were with her over an hour on the lawn. I could see that
father thought it queer; but I explained to him that court women never
thought of little things like, well, husbands."

Howat gazed at her coldly, for the first time conscious that he actually
disliked Myrtle. He made up his mind, definitely, to assist Caroline as
far as possible. She was absurd, criticizing Mrs. Winscombe. "Where," he
demanded, "did you get all that about courts? And your sudden, tender
interest in husbands? That's new, too. You're not thinking of one for
yourself, are you? He'd never see you down in the morning."

A bright, angry colour flooded her cheeks. "You are as coarse as
possible," she declared. "I'm sure I wish you'd stay away altogether
from Myrtle Forge; you've never been anything but a bother." She left
abruptly. "Sweet disposition." Howat grinned. "You are seeing family
life as it's actually lived." Later his thoughts returned to what she
had said about Ludowika Winscombe; he recalled the latter's speech,
seated on the doorstep; some stuff about a premonition. Myrtle had
suggested that he was interested in her. What ridiculous nonsense! If
his father said anything on that score the