ased to learn that another hullaballoo had been made over his
absence, doubtless on necessary business?"

"Oh, no, I am sure he would not! He didn't like it at all the other
time. It was only--I feel so much responsibility--and I am so
uncertain as to what I ought to do. I am not letting anybody
know"--she hesitated and blushed--"except you, that I don't really
know where he is. I thought it was what he would wish if--if he is on
a business trip--in West Virginia--or anywhere. But if anything has
happened--should happen--to him----"

"Don't feel anxious on that score. I shall be the first one to know if
any harm comes to him, and I give you my word that you shall be
informed as soon as possible. I came in to give you this assurance, as
I feared you would be worried by his long absence."

Henrietta was surprised when her visitor left to find that their
conversation had lasted for half an hour. "It didn't seem so long,"
she thought, smiling in the pleasant glow that still enveloped her
consciousness.

"I hope I didn't say anything I ought not," her thought ran on, with
just a tinge of anxiety. "He is such a compelling sort of man, you
have to trust him, and he's so blunt and direct himself that before
you know it you are being just as frank as he is."

She reviewed their talk and reassured herself, with much
gratification, that nowhere had it touched what the most sensitive
loyalty to her employer could have thought forbidden ground.

"It's very curious," she marvelled, "how he knows about Mr. Brand's
affairs. They must be the very closest friends or he could never know
so much about Mr. Brand's ambitions and how he feels about his art.
And yet there was a flash in his eyes every time Mr. Brand's name was
mentioned, and he looked just as if he were trying to control an angry
feeling. Still, they are surely friends.... His mustache is very
handsome. I wonder why he doesn't let it grow longer."

Toward the end of the week he came again and renewed his assurances
of Brand's safety, and again they talked happily together for a length
of time that startled Henrietta when she looked at her watch after he
left. Her confidence in him increased with each interview and so also
did her puzzlement as to his relations with Felix Brand. For several
days she debated with herself as to what she ought to do and at last,
in her anxiety and doubt, she sought the counsel of Dr. Annister.

She told him the whole story, admitting that