the heat?" he inquired
mildly.

"Heat! It is only ordinary summer weather."

"But Desire is not used to ordinary summer, in Ontario."

"Nonsense. It can't be much cooler on the coast. Although I have heard
people say that they felt quite chilly there. It isn't that."

"What is it, then?"

Not noticing that she was being asked to answer her own question, Aunt
Caroline considered. Then, with a flash of shrewd insight, "Well," she
said, "if there were any possible excuse for it, I should say that it
is Mary Davis."

"My dear Aunt!"

"You asked me, Benis. And I have told you what I think. Desire has
changed since Mary came. Before that she seemed happy. There was
something about her--well, I admit I liked to look at her. And she
seemed to love this place. Even that Yorick bird pleased her, a taste
which I admit I could never understand. Now she looks around and sees
nothing. The girl has some-thing on her mind, Benis. She's thinking."

"With some people thought is not fatal."

"I am serious, Benis."

"So am I."

"What I should like to know is--have you, by any chance, been flirting
with Mary?"

"What?"

"Don't shout. You heard what I said perfectly. I do not wish to
interfere. It is against my nature. But if you had been flirting with
Mary, that might account for it. I don't believe Desire would
understand. She might take it seriously. As for Mary--I am ashamed of
her. I shall not invite her here again."

"This is nonsense, Aunt."

"Excuse me, Benis. The nonsense is on your side. I know what I am
talking about, and I know Mary Davis. She is one of those women for
whom a man obscures the landscape. She will flirt on her deathbed, or
any-body else's deathbed, which is worse. Come now, be honest. She has
been doing it, hasn't she?"

"Certainly not."

"I suppose you have to say that. I'll put it in another way. What is
your opinion of Mary?"

"She is an interesting woman."

"You find her more interesting than you did upon her former visit?"

"I hardly remember her former visit. I never really knew her before."

"And you know her now?"

"She has honored me with a certain amount of confidence."

Aunt Caroline snorted. "I thought so. Well, she doesn't need to honor
me with her confidence because I know her without it. Was she honoring
you that way last night when you stayed out in the garden until
mid-night?"

"We were talking, naturally."

"And--your wife?"

There was a moment's pause while t