"Oh!"

"Yes. As soon as I received Sally's letter--she wrote at once--I started
immediately for Norfolk. I saw Mr. Spenser--in my quality of guardian it
was proper that I should see him. And I brought the two ladies home."

"And not Mr. Spenser too?"

"I don't know anything about Mr. Spenser!" Then, after a moment, "I
reckon he will follow," the Doctor murmured, dejectedly.

"And I--who thought he was in Venice!"

"He was in Venice until a few weeks ago. I don't know in the least what
brought him home. And I don't know in the least what brought him to
Norfolk, unless it was, as I was told, some insane fancy for sketching
the Dismal Swamp;--of all places in the world the miry old Dismal! And
to think that I should have let Garda go there, at just that moment!
It's a combination of fortuitous chances which seems to me absolutely
infernal!--I beg your pardon, madam"--here the Doctor rose, bowing
ceremoniously, with his hand on the broad expanse of beautifully
starched linen, which kept its place unmoved over his disturbed breast.
"It is not often that I am betrayed into language unsuited to a lady's
presence. I ask you to excuse me."

"You do not like Mr. Spenser," said Margaret.

The Doctor stared. "Do you?"

"I suppose it is not so much whether we like him, as whether we approve
of him for Garda. But I am afraid she would not listen to us even if we
should disapprove."

"I think you are in error there," said the Doctor, beginning to walk to
and fro with quick short steps. Much as he liked Margaret, it was with
anger that he answered her now.

"I must tell you what I think, mustn't I?" said the other guardian,
gently. "And I think she has cared for him a long time."

"It is impossible for me to agree with you. Long time? Permit me to ask
how long you mean? In the mean while she has been engaged to another
man--Evert Winthrop. Do you forget that?"

"I don't think she realized fully--she was very young; she is extremely
impulsive always," answered his colleague, wandering rather helplessly
for a moment among her phrases. Then she spoke more decidedly. "But now
she knows, now she is sure; she is sure it is Lucian she cares for."

"She is fanciful, and this is only another fancy. Sally, too, has been
much to blame."

"I do not think Garda is fanciful," said Margaret. "And--it is not a
childish feeling, her liking for Lucian Spenser."

The Doctor stopped on the other side of the room. Then he came back and