e resolved he would think of her no more in that or any other
connection; that he would follow the example of her best friend, and
give his doubts to the wind.

And yet such a burr is suspicion, that he no sooner saw a young man
approaching her with the evident intention of speaking, than he felt an
irresistible desire to hear what she would have to say, and, led by this
impulse, allowed himself to saunter nearer and nearer the pair, till he
stood almost at their backs.

The first words he heard were:

"How long do you expect to remain in Buffalo, Miss Dare?"

To which she replied:

"I have no idea whether I shall stay a week or a month."

Then the whistle of the advancing train was heard, and the two pressed
hurriedly forward.

The business which had taken Mr. Byrd to Monteith kept him in that small
town all day. But though he thus missed the opportunity of attending the
opening of the inquest at Sibley, he did not experience the vivid
disappointment which might have been expected, his interest in that
matter having in some unaccountable way subsided from the moment he saw
Imogene Dare take the cars for Buffalo.

It was five o'clock when he again returned to Sibley, the hour at which
the western train was also due. In fact, it came steaming in while he
stood there, and, as was natural, perhaps, he paused a moment to watch
the passengers alight. There were not many, and he was about to turn
toward home, when he saw a lady step upon the platform whose appearance
was so familiar that he stopped, disbelieving the evidence of his own
senses. Miss Dare returned? Miss Dare, who but a few hours before had
left this very depot for the purpose, as she said, of making a visit of
more or less length in the distant city of Buffalo? It could not be. And
yet there was no mistaking her, disguised though she was by the heavy
veil that covered her features. She had come back, and the interest
which Mr. Byrd had lost in Sibley and its possible mystery, revived with
a suddenness that called up a self-conscious blush to his hardy cheek.

But why had she so changed her plans? What could have occurred during
the few hours that had elapsed since her departure, to turn her about on
her path and drive her homeward before her journey was half completed?
He could not imagine. True, it was not his present business to do so;
and yet, however much he endeavored to think of other things, he found
this question occupying his whole mind long