ivilities. Miss Axewright left the dining-room first, and he
hurried out to look her up as soon as he had despatched the coffee and
steak which formed his breakfast, with a wholly unreasoned impulse to
offer her some sort of reparation for the slight the conditions put upon
her. He found her sitting on the veranda beside the friendly tabby of
his last night's acquaintance, and far, apparently, from feeling the
need of reparation through him. She was very nice, though, and after
chatting a little while she rose, and excused herself to the tabby, with
a politeness that included Gaites, upon the ground of a promise to Miss
Desmond that she would come up, the first thing after breakfast, and see
how the piano was getting along.

When she reappeared, in her hat, at the front of the Inn, Gaites
happened to be there, and he asked her if he might walk with her and
make his inquiries too about the piano, in which, he urged, they were
mutually interested. He had a notion to tell her all about his pursuit
of Miss Desmond's piano, as something that would peculiarly interest
Miss Desmond's friend; but though she admitted the force of his
reasoning as to their common concern in the fate of the piano, and had
allowed him to go with her to rejoice over its installation, some subtle
instinct kept him from the confidence he had intended, and they walked
on in talk (very agreeable talk, Gaites found it) which left the subject
of the piano altogether intact.

This was fortunate for Miss Desmond, who wished to talk of nothing else.
The piano had arrived in perfect condition. "But I don't know where the
poor thing _hasn't_ been, on the way," said the girl. "It left Boston
fully two weeks ago, and it seems to have been wandering round to the
ends of the earth ever since. The first of last week, I heard from it at
Kent Harbor, of all places! I got a long despatch from there, from some
unknown female, telling me it had broken down on the way to Burymouth,
and been sent by mistake to Kent Harbor from Mewers Junction. Have you
ever been at Kent Harbor, Mr. Gaites?"

"Oh, yes," said Gaites. This was the moment to come out with the history
of his relation to the piano; but he waited.

"And can you tell me whether they happen to have a female freight agent
there?"

"Not to my knowledge," said Gaites, with a mystical smile.

"Then _do_ you know anybody there by the name of Elaine W. Maze?"

"Mrs. Maze? Yes, I know Mrs. Maze. She has a cottage,