ness whatsoever she
conceived to be her duty. So when Guilford Duncan called upon her, she
promptly put away her surprise, and entered the little parlor to greet
him.

She did not keep him waiting, and he specially liked that. He was apt to
be impatient of waiting. She did not think it necessary to change her
gown. It was her habit to dress with exceeding simplicity and extreme
neatness. She could not afford anything pretentious in dress, and she
would make no false pretense. Besides, she owned no better gown than the
one of French calico, which she was already wearing.

So, without a minute's wait, Barbara walked into the parlor and greeted
her visitor, not without some lingering trace of surprise at the honor
done her, but with no touch of foolish embarrassment in her manner.
Barbara was simply her own sweet, natural self, and when Duncan went
away, after his call, the glamour of her personality was more strongly
upon him than ever.

"She, at least," he thought as he walked toward the levee, "will not
misconstrue my call, as Mrs. Hallam suggests. She is too womanly, too
sincere, too genuine for that. I shall call again very soon, though,
now that I think of it, she forgot to ask me to do so. Never mind. I'll
manufacture some excuse--oh, by Jove, I have it! 'The Coterie' is to
give a fancy dress dance a week from to-night. I'll invite her to go. I
wonder if she will accept. I hope so, but even if she doesn't, the
invitation will give me ample excuse for calling. I'll do it to-morrow
evening. I suppose women need a little time to get ready for such
functions. Anyhow, I'll call on her to-morrow evening and invite her. I
wonder if anybody else has anticipated me in that? No, I'll wager not. I
never heard of her going out, or even of anybody calling upon her.
Still," he reflected, as he mounted to his room and lighted his lamp and
his fire, "that sort of thing might happen." Then, after a pause: "I
reckon I'd better send her a note to prepare her. I'll write it
to-night, and leave it at breakfast in the morning. She never quits the
kitchen regions while breakfast is on. I wonder if she's as neat, and
trim, and pretty when she's making coffee, or doing whatever it is that
they do to ham, as she always is when she visits other parts of the
house?"

Turning, he locked his door. That was a very unusual proceeding on his
part, as it was well understood that his "latchstring was always out" of
an evening, and the young men,