re.

"Why, Aunty Pen!" cried Betty. "You look so different. You look grown
up."

"I am, Betty," she said gravely.

"Miss Pen!" exclaimed Kingdon, coming forward. "Our hills have gotten in
their curative powers speedily. I was afraid you were of the lily family,
but I see you are a bud of the rose."

While she was replying to his banter, Kurt came into the room. She felt a
little feminine thrill of pleasure in his look of unspoken admiration.

"I left my guest, Mr. Hebler, down at the stables," continued Kingdon.
"Billy, run down and tell him it is nearly time for luncheon. I made a new
acquaintance while I was away," he explained to Pen. "Bruce Hebler. I
persuaded him to stop off on his way out to California."

Pen's eyes dilated slightly, and the color left her face, as she made some
excuse for leaving the room. Kurt followed, intercepting her in the
hallway.

"This Hebler is some one you have met before?" he asked, looking at her
keenly.

"Yes; did I show it so plainly? I don't want to see him, or let him know I
am here."

"You are afraid of him?"

"Y-e-s."

"He has some power over you--the power to take you away?"

"Yes; a power prior to yours."

"A legal one?"

"Yes."

"You can keep to your room," he said reassuringly. "That is, for the
afternoon. Westcott has invited Mr. Kingdon and this man to dinner and for
cards afterward. You can easily stay away from the breakfast room in the
morning. I think he is going to leave in a day or so. I'll think up some
excuse for your not appearing."

"Oh!" she said whimsically. "You will--lie for me?"

He flushed.

"I want Mrs. Kingdon to be your custodian--not this man."

"So do I," she said. "But I forget I am in custody up here."

"I am wondering," he said in a troubled tone, "how we can prevent the
children from speaking of you before this man? And Kingdon, too, is sure
to mention your name."

"Oh, that will do no harm. He won't know whom they mean. He doesn't know
me by my own name. I told you I had a great many convenient aliases.
Remember?"

"Yes," he replied shortly. "I remember."

She went to her room, and presently Marta came in with her luncheon, some
books and a message of sympathy from Kingdon. In spite of these
distractions, time dragged and it was with a sigh of relief that she saw
Kingdon and his guest motoring toward Westcott's.

"Poor old Hebby! Just as hawk-nosed and lynx-eyed as ever. The last place
he'd think of looking for me