e extent of
dropping her eyes and bowing with frigid indifference. Standing close
he whispered "Louise!" in a pleading tone that made Diana frown
wickedly. But the girl was unresponsive and another instant forced him
to turn to Beth.

"Why, Arthur! are you here, then?" said the girl, in a surprised but
cordial tone.

"That is not astonishing, Miss Beth," he replied. "The puzzling fact is
that _you_ are here--and under such auspices," he added, in a lower
tone.

Patsy now claimed him, with a frank greeting, and Arthur Weldon could do
little more than press her hand when the line forced him to move on and
give place to others.

But this especial young fellow occupied the minds of all four girls long
after the crowd had swallowed him up. Diana was uneasy and obviously
disturbed by the discovery that he was known to the three cousins, as
well as by the memory of his tone as he addressed Louise Merrick.
Louise, who had read Diana's quick glance with the accuracy of an
intuitionist, felt a sudden suspicion and dislike for Diana now
dominating her. Behind all this was a mystery, which shall be explained
here because the reader deserves to be more enlightened than the
characters themselves.

Arthur Weldon's nature was a queer combination of weakness and strength.
He was physically brave but a moral coward. The motherless son of a man
wholly immersed in business, he had been much neglected in his youth and
his unstable character was largely the result of this neglect. On
leaving college he refused a business career planned for him by his
father, who cast him off with scornful indifference, and save for a slim
temporary allowance promised to disinherit him. It was during this
period that Arthur met Louise and fell desperately in love with her. The
girl appeared to return the young fellow's devotion, but shrewd, worldly
Mrs. Merrick, discovering that the boy was practically disinherited and
had no prospects whatever, forbade him the house. Louise, until now but
mildly interested in the young-man, resented her mother's interference
and refused to give him up. She found ways to meet Arthur Weldon outside
her home, so that the situation had become complicated and dangerous
when Uncle John seized his three nieces and whisked them off to Europe.
Young Weldon, under an assumed name, followed and attached himself to
the party; but John Merrick's suspicions were presently aroused and on
discovering the identity of the youth he for