nd solicitous to give pleasure. Anyhow, you please women.
Then, again, you have made yourself the most conspicuous young man in
Cairo, and everybody counts upon your success as certain. There, I'm not
going to explain further; I only warn you."

"But, Mrs. Hallam, I have not called more than twice upon any one girl,
and----"

"Well, don't. That's all I've got to say."

Duncan went away puzzled. He had intended to be very shrewd and
circumspect in this matter. He had intended, by calling once or twice
upon each of several young women, to deprive the calls he intended to
make upon Barbara of any look of significance, and now, before he had
even begun to cultivate acquaintance with Barbara, he found his small
preparatory callings the subject of curiosity and gossip.

He was resolved not to be balked of his purpose, however. He saw no
reason to permit that. He would go that very evening to see Barbara, and
he would repeat the visit from time to time, until a fuller
acquaintance with the girl should cure him of his fascination.
Acquaintance must do that, he was persuaded.

He carried out his part of the program resolutely. If the results were
not precisely what he expected, and intended, the fault was not his own.

Barbara Verne was not accustomed to receive visits from young men. She
was almost too young, for one thing, or, at least, she had been almost
too young until about this time. Moreover, her life was unusually
secluded. She devoted all her time to her exacting household duties.
Except that she attended church once each Sunday, she was never seen in
any public place, or anywhere else, outside of her aunt's house, or the
house of her single friend--Mrs. Richards--a retiring matron, who
neither received company nor went out anywhere. These two--the young
girl and the middle-aged matron--were somewhat more than intimate in
their affection, but apart from this one friend, Barbara visited nobody.
The young women of the town did not think of her, therefore, as one of
themselves at all. They regarded her rather as a child than as a young
woman, though if they had troubled to think about the matter, they would
have remembered that she was as old as some of themselves.

When Guilford Duncan made his first call upon Barbara, therefore, that
young person was very greatly astonished, but she was in no way
embarrassed. It was her nature to meet all circumstances and all events
frankly, and to do with conscientious faithful