of his.

He uncovered his face and looked at her. He seemed to have aged all at
once. "Oh, forgive me," he pleaded. "I don't want to worry you."

A gasping cry came from a door across the room. Mrs. Milo had entered,
and was standing staring at the two in amazement and anger. "Susan
Milo!" she cried.

"Oh!" Without rising, Sue began to pick up bits of smilax dropped from
the florist's basket. "Yes, mother?" she replied inquiringly.

Mrs. Milo hurried forward. "What _are_ you doing on your knees?"

"Mother dear," returned Sue, "did you ever see anything like smilax to
get all over the place?" Her voice trembled like the voice of a child
caught in wrongdoing. "One little bit here--one little bit there----"

"Get up," ordered her mother, curtly. And as Sue rose, "What's the
matter with you, Mr. Farvel? Are you sick?"

"Mother!"--it was a low appeal.

Farvel rose, a trifle wearily. "No," he answered, meeting the angry
look of the elder woman calmly. "I am not sick."

Mrs. Milo turned to vent her wrath upon Sue. "I declare I don't know
what to think of you," she scolded. "Down on the carpet, making an
exhibition of yourself!"

Sue's look beseeched Farvel. "Don't stay for rehearsal," she said.
"Find another clergyman."

"That's best," he answered; "yes."

Mrs. Milo broke in upon them, not able to control herself. "Where's
your dignity?" she demanded of Sue. "Acting like a romantic
schoolgirl--a great, overgrown woman."

Farvel bowed to Sue with formality, ignoring her mother. "You're very
kind," he said. "I'm grateful." With Wallace following, he went out
by the door leading to the Church.

Instantly Mrs. Milo grew more calm. She seated herself with something
of a judicial air. "Now, what's this all about?" she asked. "You know
that I don't like a mystery."

Sue came to stand before her mother. And again her attitude was not
that of one woman talking to another, but that of a child, anxious to
excuse a fault. "Well,--well," she began haltingly, "someone he cared
for--disappeared."

"Cared for," repeated Mrs. Milo, instant relief showing in her tone.
"Ah, indeed! A girl, I suppose?"

"Y-y-yes."

Still more pleased, her mother leaned back, smiling. "And she
disappeared, did she? Well, I don't wonder he's so secret about it.
Ha! ha!"--that well-bred, rippling laugh.

Sue stared down at her. "You mean----" she asked; "you mean----"

Mrs. Milo lifted her eyebrows. "My daug