s, but I have an appointment," affirmed Dosia desperately.
"I've been enjoying it all so much, but I'd forgotten I must go--at
once! Good-by."

She almost ran on the way home. There was no appointment, but it was
imperative that she should be alone, away from all suggestion of the
newly married. She hoped that there would be no visitors. But as she
neared the house she saw that there was some one on the piazza--George
Sutton, frock-coated and high-hatted, with a rose above his white
waistcoat and a beaming face that rivaled the rose in color as he came
to meet her.

"Why, I thought you were not coming until this evening," said Dosia
demandingly,--"not until you could see Justin."

"Did you think I could stay away as long as that?" asked George. His
manner the night before had been almost reverential in the depth of
his honest emotion; the kiss he had imprinted on her forehead had
seemed of an impersonal nature, and she a princess who regally allowed
it. She was conscious now of a change.

"Where is Lois?" she asked, as they went up the steps together.

"The maid said she had stepped out for a moment."

"Then we'll sit out here on the piazza and wait for her," said Dosia,
without looking at her lover. Taking the hat-pins out of her hat, she
deposited it on a chair with a quick decision of movement, and then
seated herself by a wicker table, while Mr. Sutton, looking
disappointed, was left perforce to the rocker on the other side.

The piazza was rather a long one, and, except for a rambling vine,
open toward the street; but around the corner of the house Japanese
screens walled it off from passers-by into a cozy arbored nook, sweet
with big bowls of roses.

"Come around to the other end of the porch," said George appealingly.

"No," said Dosia, with her obstinate expression; "I like it here."

She stripped the long gloves from her arms, and spread out her hands,
palms upward, in her lap. The diamond, which had been turned inward,
caught the sunshine gloriously. His gaze fell upon it, and he smiled.
Dosia saw the smile and reddened.

"I wish you wouldn't sit there looking at me," she said in a tone
which she tried to make neutral.

"Come down to the other end of the piazza--just for a moment."

"No!" said Dosia again. She gave a sudden movement and changed her
tone sharply: "Oh, there's a spider on the table there, crawling
toward me! Please take it away." Her voice rose uncontrollably. "I
hate spiders--oh