places," said Katharine, with a
lightness that did not entirely veil something serious, "not to put too
much faith in appearances. Even I am not above learning a lesson now and
then."

He looked at her curiously.

"I'd like to know by what right you haven't changed more," he said.

"Did you expect to find me in ruins, after--let me see, how many years?"
she laughed. "The hand of Time is heavy, but not necessarily
obliterating. _What_ has become of Alice?"

"She can't have gone far," said Arnold. "She was with us a moment ago."

"There she is with some of the rest of your party--I caught a glimpse of
her just now," added Donald. "She's quite safe."

Alice stood talking with a girl of her own age and two or three
undergraduates, on the outskirts of the crowd. One of the youths wore in
his buttonhole the losing color, but he bore himself with a proud
dignity that forbade casual condolences. Alice's eyes were bright, and
her pretty laugh rippled forth with readily communicated mirth, while
the very roses of her hat nodded with the spirit of unthinking gayety.

"There's the car that belongs to our fellows," said, half to himself,
the person of sympathies alien to those of his present companions. "They
must be about--yes, they're getting on," he added, as a car which had
been propelled from a neighboring switch stopped at the farther end of
the station. Alice's head turned with a swiftness of motion that set the
roses vibrating as if a sudden breeze had ruffled their petals.

"The crew?" she asked.

"Yes," assented the young man.

She turned more definitely towards him, away from the rest of the group,
whose attention was called in another direction.

"Will you do something for me, Mr. Francis?"

"Why, of course."

Alice had not anticipated refusal, and her directions were prompt and
lucid.

"Please go into that car and ask Mr. Herbert to come out to the
platform, at the other end, to speak to me. There isn't much time to
lose, so please be quick."

As he lifted his hat and moved away, she joined in the conversation of
the others, which seemed to be largely metaphorical.

"So he got it that time," one of the young men was explaining, "where
Katy wore the beads."

"Well, it served him quite right," said Alice, with the generosity of
ignorance. Her whole attention was apparently given to the matter in
hand, but she was standing so that she could see the somewhat vague
vestibule of the brilliant but curtai