ce, permitted his mother to take his arm and propel him
away. Mrs. Dowling's spirits had strikingly recovered even before the
pair passed from the corridor: she moved almost bouncingly beside her
embittered son, and her eyes and all the convolutions of her abundant
face were blithe.

Alice went in search of Walter, but without much hope of finding him.
What he did with himself at frozen-face dances was one of his most
successful mysteries, and her present excursion gave her no clue leading
to its solution. When the musicians again lowered their instruments
for an interval she had returned, alone, to her former seat within the
partial shelter of the box-trees.

She had now to practice an art that affords but a limited variety of
methods, even to the expert: the art of seeming to have an escort or
partner when there is none. The practitioner must imply, merely by
expression and attitude, that the supposed companion has left her for
only a few moments, that she herself has sent him upon an errand; and,
if possible, the minds of observers must be directed toward a conclusion
that this errand of her devising is an amusing one; at all events, she
is alone temporarily and of choice, not deserted. She awaits a devoted
man who may return at any instant.

Other people desired to sit in Alice's nook, but discovered her in
occupancy. She had moved the vacant chair closer to her own, and she
sat with her arm extended so that her hand, holding her lace kerchief,
rested upon the back of this second chair, claiming it. Such
a preemption, like that of a traveller's bag in the rack, was
unquestionable; and, for additional evidence, sitting with her knees
crossed, she kept one foot continuously moving a little, in cadence with
the other, which tapped the floor. Moreover, she added a fine detail:
her half-smile, with the under lip caught, seemed to struggle against
repression, as if she found the service engaging her absent companion
even more amusing than she would let him see when he returned: there was
jovial intrigue of some sort afoot, evidently. Her eyes, beaming with
secret fun, were averted from intruders, but sometimes, when couples
approached, seeking possession of the nook, her thoughts about the
absentee appeared to threaten her with outright laughter; and though
one or two girls looked at her skeptically, as they turned away, their
escorts felt no such doubts, and merely wondered what importantly funny
affair Alice Adams wa