ts
and services--which were great--but it was plain to see that his
daughter would have been happier had no such office existed as that
created for this deserving and destitute widow. At three Miss Folsom had
gone and tapped at the lady's door--her room was in the third story
overlooking the street--and was very civilly assured that Mrs. Fletcher
stood in need of nothing, but, being wearied, she would like a little
sleep. No, she did not even care for a cup of tea. Yet Elinor felt
confident that the voice that replied to her inquiries came neither from
the bed nor the lounge, but from the direction of the front window.

At three the cigars were smoked out and the host and his guest were in
the library. It was Folsom's custom, when a possible thing, to take a
brief nap after the midday meal, and Elinor felt sure he would be glad
of the opportunity now, if Burleigh would only go, but Burleigh
wouldn't. In monotonous monologue his voice came floating up to the
second floor, drowsy, unbroken in its soporific flow, and the girls
themselves, after the morning's drive in the clear, bracing air, felt as
though forty winks would be a blessing. Could it be that Burleigh
lingered on in hopes of their reappearance below? Might it not be that
if relief came not speedily Papa Folsom would yield to the spell and
fall asleep in his easy-chair? Was it not Miss Folsom's duty to descend
and take the burden of entertainment off those elder shoulders? These
thoughts oppressed the girl, and starting up, she cried:

"It's simply wicked of me staying here and letting poor papa be bored to
death. Do come down, Jess, dear, unless you're dreadfully sleepy. He
acts just as though he intended never to go."

And Jess promised reluctantly to come down in ten minutes, if he didn't
leave; but she hated him, and had hated him ever since he spoke so of
Marshall in the car three days before.

The upper hall had been quite dark when Miss Folsom went up to inquire
how Mrs. Fletcher was just after luncheon. The door to her little room
was tightly closed. The blinds in all the other rooms aloft were drawn
against the glare of the sunshine in the cloudless atmosphere; yet now,
as Pappoose stepped suddenly out upon the landing, she was surprised to
see that the upper floor was much lighter than when she went up half an
hour earlier. The maid had not gone thither from the kitchen, and Mrs.
Fletcher wished to doze. Who, then, could have opened both blind and