hers will
find their way."

"Take me home," whispered Iola, with dry lips.

"Do you love him?" said Mrs. Duff Charrington, taking the girl's hand in
hers.

"Ah, yes. I never knew how much."

"Tut! tut! child, the world still moves. Baltimore is not so far and
he is only a man." Mrs. Duff Charrington's tone did not indicate a high
opinion of the masculine section of humanity. "You'll just come with me
for dinner and then I shall send you home. Thank God, we can still eat."

For some minutes they drove along in silence.

"Yes," said Mrs. Charrington, following up the line of her thought,
"that's a man for you--thinks the whole world moves round the axis of
his own life. But I like him. He has a good face. Still," she mused, "a
man isn't everything, although once I--but never mind, there is always a
way of bringing them to time."

"You don't know Barney, Mrs. Charrington," said Iola; "nothing can ever
change him."

"Pish! You think so, and so, doubtless, does he. But none the less it is
sheer nonsense. Can you tell me the trouble?"

"No, I think not," said Iola softly.

"Very well. As you like, my dear. Few things are the better for words.
If ever you wish to come to me I shall be ready. Now let us dismiss the
thing till after dinner. Disagreeable thoughts hinder digestion, I have
found, and nothing is quite worth that."

With such resolution did she follow her own suggestion that, during the
drive and throughout the dinner hour and, indeed, until the moment of
her departure, Iola was not permitted to indulge her anxious thoughts,
but with Mrs. Duff Charrington's assistance she succeeded in keeping
them deep in her heart under guard.

As Mrs. Duff Charrington kissed her good-night she whispered:

"Don't face any issue to-night. Don't settle anything. Give time a
chance. Time is a wonderfully wise old party."

And Iola, sitting back in the carriage, decided she would act upon the
advice which suited so thoroughly her own habit of mind. That Barney had
made up his mind to a line of action she knew. She would set herself to
gain time, and yet she was fearful of the issue of the interview before
her. The fear and anxiety which she had been holding down for the last
two hours came over her in floods. As she thought of Barney's last words
she found herself searching wildly, but in vain, for motives with which
to brace her strength. If he had only been angry! But that sad, tender
solicitude in his voice unnerved