anged very much since my marriage."
Decidedly it was not Sylvia's lucky day for finding topics of talk.
She was wondering how the billiard game was progressing, and was sorry
she had not risked going with the others. She was recalled by Mrs.
Fiske's saying with a soft earnestness, "I want you to know, Miss
Marshall, how I _appreciate_ your kindness to me!"

Sylvia looked at her in astonishment, half fearing that she was being
made fun of.

The other went on: "It was _very_ nice of you--your staying here to
talk with me instead of going off with the young people--the others
don't often--" She played nervously with a gleaming pendant on a
platinum chain which hung over her flat chest, and went on: "I--you
have _always_ seemed to me the very nicest of Jerry's friends--and I
shall never forget your mother's kindness. I hope--I hope so much I
shall see more of her. The Colonel thinks so too--we've liked so much
having him like you." The incoherence of this did not prevent Sylvia's
having a chillingly accurate grasp on its meaning. "It is the
Colonel's hope," she went on painfully, "to have Jerry marry as soon
as he graduates from the Law School. The Colonel thinks that nothing
is so good for a young man as an early marriage--though of course
Jerry isn't so very, very young any more. He--the--Colonel is a great
believer in marriage--" Her voice died away into murmurs. Her long,
thin throat contracted in a visible swallow.

At this point only Sylvia's perception of the other's anguished
embarrassment prevented her from literally running away. As it was,
they sat silent, fingering over the pages of the album and gazing
unseeingly at the various set countenances which looked out at them
with the unnatural glare of the photographed. Sylvia was canvassing
desperately one possibility of escape after another when the door
opened, and the lively young man of the trolley-car stepped in.
He tiptoed to the fireplace with exaggerated caution, looking
theatrically over his shoulder for a pursuer. Sylvia positively
welcomed his appearance and turned to him with a cordiality quite
unlike the cool dignity with which she had planned to treat him. He
sat down on the rug before the fire, very close to her feet, and
looked up at her, grinning. "Here's where I get another one on
Jerry--what?" he said, ignoring Mrs. Fiske. "Old Jerry thinks he's
playing such a wonderful game in there he can't tear himself away--but
there'll be something doing,