ee Suzanne. She never looked toward
Rachel, but don't tell me she wasn't aware of the very instant Rachel came
upon the porch. I believe she read it in Roger Barnes's face. I'll wager
ten to one his pulse isn't countable at the present instant."

"I don't blame him," Juliet answered, smiling at her guests. "She's my
ideal of a girl who won't hold out a finger to the men."

"Yes, she's your sort," admitted Anthony. "I know what it is--poor
fellows--I've been through it. Your cold shoulder used to warm up my heart
hotter than any other girl's kindness. Look at the boys now. They can't
jump and run away from the other girls, but they'd like to. And they're
all deadly anxious for fear the others will get the start. Say, Julie, you
ought not to have asked those new youngsters down from town. They'll catch
it, sure as fate; they're at the susceptible age. I see five of them now,
all staring at Rachel."

"You positively mustn't stay here with me any longer," whispered Juliet.
"Go and devote yourself to her and keep them off for a little."

"Not on your life," Anthony returned "She can take care of herself. If I
mix up in this fray you're likely to be husbandless. Lockwood and Roger
are getting dangerous, and I'm going to keep on the outskirts where it's
safe."

They were all upon the lawn--Rachel, unable to help herself, according to
Anthony's intimation, the centre of a group of men who would not give each
other a chance--when a stranger appeared upon the edge of the circle of
light. He stood watching the scene for a moment--a tall, slender fellow,
with a pale face and deep-set eyes. Then he asked somebody to tell Miss
Redding that Mr. Huntington would like to speak with her. Rachel, thus
summoned, rose, looked about her, caught sight of the stranger, and went
swiftly down the lawn. A dozen people, among them all the men who had been
the guests of the week, saw the meeting. They observed that the newcomer
put out both hands, that his smile was very bright, and that he stood
looking down into Miss Redding's face as if at sight of it he had
instantly forgotten everything else in the world.

Rachel, leaving him, came back up the lawn to find her hostess. As she
passed it became evident to a good many pairs of sharp eyes that her
beauty had received a keen accession from the sweeping over her cheeks of
a burning blush--so unusual that they could not fail to take note of it.

Juliet came back down the lawn with Rachel, who p