rted by her friends. A room had been taken for her, and she
was now transformed into Miss Barribel Ballantree. "What a good thing I
wouldn't let her be called Barbara after me," said Mrs. Bal. "We should
have had to change her whole name, and that would have been _really_
awkward!"

I should have retired at once, when my errand was done, but Mrs. Bal
would not let me go. I think, for one thing, she wasn't at ease with
Barrie alone; and for another, she wanted to see if I too were a victim
of this young person who might perhaps turn out a formidable rival as
well as an inconvenient daughter. Barrie evidently wished me to stay;
and I made no effort to conceal my real feeling for the girl from either
of them. I thought that now was the time to let myself go. Barrie was
inwardly yearning for comfort and love, and I opened the door of my
heart for her to see that it and all within were hers. I was on the
spot, and Somerled wasn't; so I hoped that Barrie might be thankful even
for her "brother of the pen." Mrs. Bal's bright, observant eyes saw and
understood.

Presently she announced that she was rather tired, and would lie down,
as there would be rehearsing to-morrow in the theatre; and though she'd
opened in Dundee, she would be almost as nervous in Edinburgh as on a
first night. Her maid was rung for. The eldest and reddest one came.
Barrie and I went out together, I longing for a few words in the
corridor, or at least a friendly pressure of the hand. But I saw that
she was in no condition to be spoken to. The reaction was coming on, and
I let her go at once. She almost ran down the passage to a room not far
away, and slammed the door.

* * * * *

Neither Mrs. Bal nor Barrie appeared again that evening. Presumably they
had dinner together in Mrs. Bal's quarters; and the heather moon shone
as through a glass darkly for the rest of us. Aline was ordered to keep
her room for the next few days, which settled our plans--or hers, at all
events. And we were a party of men dining that night, the two Vannecks
and Somerled and I, for Mrs. James "had a headache," and Maud kept Aline
company.

The great Somerled was reflective if not morose. I wondered what his
schemes were concerning Barrie, for I imagined uneasily that he was
working with some idea; and if I didn't mean to sit still and let him
cage the dove while it fluttered homeless and forlorn, I must come out
of my corner into the open to fi