resented Mr. Huntington;
and presently, without a word of leave-taking to any one else, the two
went away down the road.

"Now, who under the heavens was that?" grunted Louis Lockwood in Anthony's
ear, catching his host around the corner of the house.

"Don't know."

"Brother, perhaps?"

"Hasn't any."

"Relative?"

"Don't know."

"Just a messenger, maybe?"

"Give it up."

"She blushed like anything."

"Did she? Man she is going to marry, probably."

"Oh, that can't be!"

"The lady looks marriageable to me," observed Anthony, strolling away.

He ran into Cathcart.

"Say, who was that fellow, Tony?" began Stevens.

"Don't ask me."

"He looked confoundedly as if he meant to embrace her on the spot."

"So he did," agreed Anthony soothingly. "Don't blame him, do you? He may
not have seen her for a month. What condition do you suppose you'd be in
if a week should get away from you out of her vicinity?"

"Bother you, Tony--don't you know who he was?"

"Intimate friend, I should judge."

"She turned pink as a carnation."

"Say hollyhock," suggested Anthony, "or peony. Only a vivid colour could
do justice to it."

"That's right," groaned Cathcart. "She never looked like that for any of
us."

"Never," said Anthony promptly, and got away, chuckling.

"Hold on, there, Robeson, man," said the voice of Dr. Roger Barnes, and
Anthony found himself again held up.

"Come on, old Roger boy," said his host pleasantly. "We'll amble down the
road a bit and give you a chance to get a grip on yourself. No, I don't
know who he is. I'm all worn out assuring Louis and Steve of that. She did
turn red, she did look upset--with joy, I infer. That girl has made more
havoc in one short week--playing off all the while, too--than Suzanne and
Marie have accomplished in the biggest season they ever knew. And I
believe, Roger boy, you're about the hardest hit of any of them."

The doctor did not answer. The two had walked away from the house and were
marching arm in arm at a good pace down the road.

"She's as poor as a church mouse," suggested Anthony.

There was no reply.

"She has a dead weight of a helpless father and mother."

The doctor put match to a cigar.

"Juliet says her brother died of dissipation in a gambling-house."

Doctor Barnes began to chew hard on a cigar that he had failed to light.

"But she's a mighty sweet girl," said Anthony softly.

"See here, Tony," the doctor burst out.--"Oh, hang it