ly Man cheerfully, unconsciously falling under
the spell of this feminine charm, "the Padre tells me there's a party
in the wind. Good! Now what am I to do? How am I to help you out?"

My mother leaned forward and compelled him to meet direct her eyes
that were friendly and clear and candid as a child's.

"Mr. Flint," said she artlessly, ignoring his questions, "Mr. Flint,
you've been with Armand and me quite a long time now, have you not?"

"A couple of lifetimes," said he, wonderingly.

"A couple of lifetimes," she mused, still holding his eyes, "is a
fairly long time. Long enough, at least, to know and to be known,
shouldn't you think?"

He awaited enlightenment. He never asks unnecessary questions.

"I am going," said my mother, with apparent irrelevance, "to entertain
in honor of Mary Virginia Eustis. I shall probably have all Appleboro
here. I sent for you to explain that you and Armand are to be present,
too."

The Butterfly Man almost fell out of his chair.

"Me?" he gasped.

"You," with deadly softness. "You."

Horror and anguish encompassed him. Perspiration appeared on his
forehead, and he gripped the arms of his chair as one bracing himself
for torture. He looked at the little lady with the terror of one to
whom the dentist has just said: "That jaw tooth must come out at once.
Open your mouth wider, please, so I can get a grip!"

My mother regarded this painful emotion heartlessly enough. She said
coolly:

"You don't need to look as if I were sentencing you to be hanged
before sundown. I am merely inviting you to be present at a very
pleasant affair." But the Butterfly Man, with his mouth open, wagged
his head feebly.

"And this," said my mother, turning the screw again, "is but the
beginning. After this, I shall manage it so that all invitations to
the Parish House include Mr. John Flint. There is no reason under
heaven why you should occupy what one might call an ambiguous
position. I am determined, too, that you shall no longer rush away to
the woods like a scared savage, the minute more than one or two ladies
appear. No, nor have Armand hurrying away as quickly as he can,
either, to bury or to marry somebody. All feminine Appleboro shall be
here at once, and you two shall be here at the same time!

"John Flint, regard me: if the finest butterfly that ever crawled a
caterpillar on this earth has the impertinence to fly by my garden the
afternoon I'm entertaining for Mary Virginia, it can