ness which
was her charm. The murmur of approval was a tribute to her femininity
that was music in her ears. The night promised to be one of triumph
which she intended to enjoy to the utmost, but to her it ensured more
than that, for Ogden Van Lennop was there, as she had seen in one swift
glance, and it meant, perhaps, her "chance."

For reasons of his own Van Lennop finally decided to accept the
invitation which at first thought he fully intended to refuse. He
figured that he had time to telegraph for his clothes, and this he did
with the result that Crowheart stared as hard almost at him as at Dr.
Harpe's amazing transformation. The reserved, unapproachable stranger in
worn corduroys, who had come to be tacitly recognized as an object of
suspicion, was not readily reconciled with this suave, self-possessed
young man in clothes which they felt intuitively were correct in every
detail. He moved among them with a _savoir-faire_ which was new to
Crowheart, talking easily and with flattering deference to this
neglected lady and that, agreeable to a point which left them animated
and coquettish. He danced with Mrs. Terriberry, he escorted Mrs. Tutts
to the punch bowl, he threw Mrs. Jackson's scarf about her shoulders
with a gallantry that turned Jackson green, a neat compliment sent Mrs.
Percy Parrott off in a series of the hysterical shrieks which always
followed when Mrs. Parrott found herself at a loss for words. Long
before Dr. Harpe's appearance it had begun to dawn upon Crowheart that
in holding aloof in unfriendly suspicion the loss had been theirs, for
it was being borne in even upon their ignorance that Van Lennop's sphere
was one in which they did not "belong."

Dr. Harpe quickly demonstrated that she was easily the best dancer in
the room, and there was no dearth of partners after the first awe of
her had worn off, but her satisfaction in her night of triumph was not
complete until Van Lennop's name was upon her programme.

Essie Tisdale, busy elsewhere, had her first glimpse of the ballroom
where Van Lennop claimed his dance. She grew white even to her lips, and
her knees shook unaccountably beneath her as she watched Dr. Harpe glide
the length of the room in Van Lennop's arms. The momentary pain she felt
in her heart had the poignancy of an actual stab. It was so--so
unexpected; he had so unequivocally ranged himself upon her side, he had
seen so plainly Dr. Harpe's illy-concealed venom and resented it in hi