. He was really fatigued, for usually he coaxes to remain up,"
Mrs. Deland said, "and really," she continued, "the only reason that
he did not take Gwen along with him was because she said that she
_must_ rest a while."

"I suppose it was impossible for him to wait with her," said someone
in the crowd.

"Max is very tender hearted," Mrs. Deland responded, "and he said he
thought if he waited, she might start before she was sufficiently
rested."

With much dignity, Mrs. Deland turned from the piazza, and entered the
house. She knew that Max was at fault, and that everyone in the group
thought so.

She would not acknowledge that her little son could be in the wrong.
Max, according to her ideas, should be praised, and approved of at all
times.

Gwen was the center of interest, and that pleased her greatly. Mrs.
Harcourt was delighted, fairly beamed upon those who crowded around
her small daughter, to ask all about her long tramp and how it seemed
to be alone on the wooded hilltop.

Of course the story lost nothing in the telling.

Gwen made it really thrilling, but after a time, even her mother felt
that the tale was becoming rather lurid for a strictly truthful
account, and she dragged Gwen away to the hall, and up the stairway,
but she made herself absurd.

"Really, Gwen, you should be a bit careful," she said, as gently as if
afraid of offending her small girl. "If your wonderful imagination
made you think you saw eyes peering at you from behind those
tree-trunks, you should remember that common people might not believe
you. Ordinary people could not understand."

"I don't care if they don't!" Gwen said stoutly. "I shall tell what I
want to, and they can believe it or not, just as they choose."

"I surely am the mother of a genius," murmured the silly woman.

* * * * *

A few days later, great excitement prevailed among the children of the
Summer colony at Cliffmore, and their elders were sufficiently
interested to talk of the news on the piazza, the beach, the little
park, at breakfast, at lunch, and at dinner.

"It is really to be quite an affair," said one lady, to which her
friend replied:

"I wouldn't miss it for the world, for I heard that no expense had
been spared, and that the whole thing will be as beautiful as a
dream."

"Who planned it, or who is managing it?" questioned another, to which
yet another who now joined the group replied:

"Captain Atherton is