d his
own curtains that one was rather pretty. This led him to think of
Cherry again, and to recall the quaint yet melancholy grace of her
figure as she sat on the stool opposite. Why had she withdrawn it so
abruptly; did she consider his jesting allusion to it indecorous and
presuming? Had he really meant it seriously; and was he beginning to
think too much about her? Would she ever come again? How nice it
would be if she returned from church alone early, and they could have a
comfortable chat together here! Would she sing the "Ham-fat Man" for
him? Would the dimples come back if she did? Should he ever know more
of this quaint repressed side of her nature? After all, what a dear,
graceful, tantalizing, lovable creature she was! Ought he not at all
hazards try to know her better? Might it not be here that he would
find a perfect realization of his boyish dreams, and in HER all
that--what nonsense he was thinking!

Suddenly Herbert was startled by the sound of a light but hurried foot
upon the wooden outer step of his second door, and the quick but
ineffective turning of the door-handle. He started to his feet, his
mind still filled with a vision of Cherry. Then he as suddenly
remembered that he had locked the door on going out, putting the key in
his overcoat pocket. He had returned by the front door, and his
overcoat was now hanging in the lower hall.

The door again rattled impetuously. Then it was supplemented by a
female voice in a hurried whisper: "Open quick, can't you? do hurry!"

He was confounded. The voice was authoritative, not unmusical; but it
was NOT Cherry's. Nevertheless he called out quickly, "One moment,
please, and I'll get the key!" dashed downstairs and up again,
breathlessly unlocked the door and threw it open.

Nobody was there!

He ran out into the street. On one side it terminated abruptly on the
cliff on which his dwelling was perched; on the other, it descended
more gradually into the next thoroughfare; but up and down the street,
on either hand, no one was to be seen. A slightly superstitious
feeling for an instant crept over him. Then he reflected that the
mysterious visitor could in the interval of his getting the key have
easily slipped down the steps of the cliff or entered the shrubbery of
one of the adjacent houses. But why had she not waited? And what did
she want? As he reentered his door he mechanically raised his eyes to
the windows of his neighbor's. Thi