rs. Also, there's a case of fairly
good booze downstairs that the janitor is taking care of until you
call for it. So long, fellows!" And with a wave of his hat the Goat
departed.

THE UNATTAINED

A gem apart
In the unreached heart
Of a shy and secret place;
Swift-winged in flight
As a meteor's light
In the far-off field of space.

More sweet and clear
To the spirit's ear
Than a wave-song on the beach;
Like the baffling blue
Of a mountain view,
Or a dream just out of reach.

Like light withdrawn
By a rain-swept dawn,
When the clouds are wild and gray;
Like a wind that blows
Through the orchard close
Ever and ever away.

WILLIAM HAMILTON HAYNE.

THE FLATTERER

By GEORGE HIBBARD

Miss Miriam Whiting languidly descended the broad terrace steps. If
her slow progress suggested bodily weariness, her whole bearing was
not less indicative of spiritual lassitude. She allowed her hand to
stray indolently along the balustrade, as with the other she held the
lace-covered sunshade at a careless angle over her shoulder.

On the lawn the guests from outside were gathered. Collected in groups
or wandering in pairs, they dotted the grounds. As one of those
staying in the house, she appeared as a semi-official hostess with a
modified duty of seeing that all went as well as possible. Her head
ached slightly, as she began to discover. Even the light of the late
afternoon was trying. The dress which she expected to wear had proved
too dilapidated, and she had been obliged to put on one she wished to
save for more important occasions. The invitation which she needed for
the satisfactory conduct of her modish itineracy from country house to
country house had not come in the early mail as she expected.

The band, hidden in a small, thick boscage of the wide gardens, broke
into a mockingly cheerful air. At intervals some distant laugh taunted
her. She was late, she knew. The shadows had begun to lengthen across
the open spaces by the fountain, and she could almost see Mrs.
Gunnison's tart and ominous frown of displeasure. Why was she there,
except to be seen; so that the world should know that one who had just
come from the Kingsmills' place on the Hudson had paused beneath the
broad roofs of "Highlands" before, presumably, going to the Van
Velsors, in Newport?

As with pinched lips she reflected, she quickened her pace careful