eyes from the toe of her buckskin shoe, which she had
been poking vigorously with her sunshade, and smiled brightly.

"Yes," she said; "that's it."

"You speak with conviction."

"Well," Edith explained, "I know Mr. Cosden better now than when the
Society last met. He wants to get married, and he thinks he has picked
out the right girl, but--"

"But--what?"

"But--he hasn't; that's all." And again Edith smiled brightly into
Huntington's face.

"Connie isn't in the habit of making mistakes; he usually gets what he
goes after."

"So he told me," she admitted, with an expression on her face which
Huntington thought significant; "but there's always a first time to
everything; and this is where Mr. Cosden meets his Waterloo."

"I understood that you had been coaching him--"

"So I have."

"But I thought we agreed--"

"We did; and I've lived up to our agreement. You watch his face when he
comes in! I'm oozing out the balance of the morning here simply to give
myself that satisfaction."

"You must have some inside information which has not been incorporated
in your report."

"Not exactly; but I know Mr. Cosden and I know Merry. When he begins to
trade for a wife she won't understand the language, and if he tries to
teach it to her--well, he may learn something himself."

"You think he will propose to her this morning?"

"If she lets him get as far as that. He's been working up to this point
ever since he arrived, and the only way to cure him was to let him have
his own way."

It was a novel experience to Huntington to see any one other than Cosden
himself undertake to manage his personal affairs. The certainty with
which Miss Stevens spoke evidenced a closer acquaintanceship with Connie
than Huntington had realized existed.

"What will happen when this episode is over? Do you care to prophesy?"
he asked.

"He will come back to his counsel to have his wounds bandaged, and then
the education of Mr. Cosden will continue from the point where it was
temporarily interrupted."

"You are assuming a great responsibility," Huntington suggested.

"I'm still retained," she answered demurely. "That's what you lawyers
call it, isn't it?"

Edith rose and sat for a moment on the edge of the piazza rail, her eyes
looking down the harbor. She was impatient for the returning boat, and
made no attempt to conceal it. At last her vigilance was rewarded, and
she returned to her chair.

"S-ssh! they're coming!" she said