He still lingered.

"Does she appear to be in,--ah,--in good spirits?"

I had work to keep my face straight.

"Capital," I said; "I never saw her happier."

This seemed to satisfy him.

"Downcast at first, happy now," he remarked thoughtfully. "Yes, she got
over it. I'm much obliged to you, Crocker."

I left him to finish his short story and walked out across the circle of
smooth lawn towards the golf links. And there I met Mrs. Cooke and her
niece coming in together. The warm red of her costume became Miss Thorn
wonderfully, and set off the glossy black of her hair. And her skin was
glowing from the exercise. An involuntary feeling of admiration for this
tall, athletic young woman swept over me, and I halted in my steps for
no other reason, I believe, than that I might look upon her the longer.

What man, I thought resentfully, would not travel a thousand miles to be
near her?

"It is Mr. Crocker," said Mrs. Cooke; "I had given up all hope of ever
seeing you again. Why have you been such a stranger?"

"As if you didn't know, Aunt Maria," Miss Thorn put in gayly.

"Oh yes, I know," returned her aunt, "and I have not been foolish enough
to invite the bar without the magnet. And yet, Mr. Crocker," she went
on playfully, "I had imagined that you were the one man in a hundred who
did not need an inducement."

Miss Thorn began digging up the turf with her lofter: it was a painful
moment for me.

"You might at least have tried me, Mrs. Cooke," I said.

Miss Thorn looked up quickly from the ground, her eyes searchingly upon
my face. And Mrs. Cooke seemed surprised.

"We are glad you came, at any rate," she answered.

And at luncheon my seat was next to Miss Thorn's, while the Celebrity
was placed at the right of Miss Trevor. I observed that his face went
blank from time to time at some quip of hers: even a dull woman may be
sharp under such circumstances, and Miss Trevor had wits to spare. And
I marked that she never allowed her talk with him to drift into deep
water; when there was danger of this she would draw the entire table
into their conversation by some adroit remark, or create a laugh at his
expense. As for me, I held a discreet if uncomfortable silence, save for
the few words which passed between Miss Thorn and me. Once or twice I
caught her covert glance on me. But I felt, and strongly, that there
could be no friendship between us now, and I did not care to dissimulate
merely for the sake of appear