ion on all sides as they
caught sight of her.

They expected to see Grace a physical wreck after all the suffering she
had gone through during her enforced imprisonment on the desert island.
Some had gone so far as to whisper that the young heiress would never
recover from the effects of the nervous shock. Such a terrible
experience, they said, was more than sufficient to kill a strong woman.
What effect, therefore, must it have had on the delicate Miss Harmon,
whose health already gave cause for alarm before she went on that fatal
voyage?

When the invited guests entered the reception-room and saw Grace beaming
and smiling in the center of a circle of enthusiastic friends they
could scarcely believe their eyes. To their utter astonishment she was
precisely the opposite of what they had imagined. Instead of the frail,
languid girl to whom they had said good-by when the _Atlanta_ sailed
from New York some six months before, she was the picture of good
health, in as perfect physical condition as she had ever been in her
life. Her face was tanned from long exposure to the sun, but the deeper
color only heightened the rich effects of her beauty. It became her dark
hair and her splendid eyes. She was a little stouter, but her fuller
figure only set off to better advantage a new gown of clinging silver
cloth, trimmed with rare lace. She looked radiant. Whispered murmurs of
admiration were heard in all parts of the room. The women raved about
her figure, her coloring and her hair, and the men fell over each other
in their eagerness to attract her attention.

The reception-rooms were already crowded and new arrivals were coming in
constantly. Somebody said that Prince Sergius of Eurasia was present,
and there was a general craning of necks to get a glimpse of royalty. A
woman whispered confidentially to a friend that his royal highness had
been a constant caller since Miss Harmon's return and that there were
good grounds for believing that they were engaged. In a few minutes the
friend had spread the information all over the room that the engagement
was official and would immediately be made public.

Supremely unconscious of the gossip of which she was the envied object,
Grace stood in a corner of the room surrounded by Mrs. Wesley Stuart,
Professor Hanson, Mrs. Phelps, and the Hon. Percy Fitzhugh. All fellow
survivors of the wreck of the _Atlanta_, they made an interesting little
group by themselves as they stood comparing