tened to a tirade against present-day customs.

"Why, this dancing is indecent!" stormed the old lady. "I never saw
anything like it in my life! Look at that little Morris chit with her
cheek plastered up to Johnnie Rawlins'! If somebody doesn't speak to her,
I will! I will not have such dancing in my house! And there's Kitty
Carey, the one with no back to her dress. What her mother is thinking
of--Mercy! Look at the length of that skirt!"

It was not until Mr. and Mrs. Ranny arrived, and Madam had no time for
any one else, that Quin was able to escape.

"Can you tell me where I can find Miss Eleanor?" he asked eagerly of Miss
Isobel, whom he encountered in the back hall.

Miss Isobel, looking thoroughly uncomfortable in a high-necked,
long-sleeved evening dress, sighed anxiously:

"I am looking for her myself. She has had all the windows opened, and
mother gave express orders that they were to be kept closed. Would you
mind putting this one down? It makes such a draught."

It was a high window and an obstinate one, and by the time it was down
Quin's cuffs were six inches beyond his coat sleeves and his vest was
bulging.

"I don't want that window down," said a spirited voice behind him. "I
wish you had left it alone."

"Eleanor!" said Miss Isobel reprovingly. "He is doing it at my request.
It is our young friend Quinby Graham."

Quin wheeled about in dismay, and found himself face to face with a
slender vision in shimmering blue and silver, a vision with flushed
cheeks and angry eyes, who looked at him in blank amazement, then burst
out laughing.

"Why, for mercy sakes! I never would have known you. You look so--so
different in civilian clothes."

The words were what he had expected, but the intonation was not. It
seemed to call for some sort of explanation.

"It's my face," he blurted out apologetically, drawing attention to the
fact that of all others he most wished to ignore. "Had an abscess in my
tooth; it's swelled my jaw up a bit."

Eleanor was not in the least concerned with his affliction. A civilian
with the toothache could not expect the consideration of a hero with a
shrapnel wound. Moreover, this was her first appearance in the role of
hostess at a large party, and she fluttered about like a distracted
humming-bird.

Miss Isobel laid a detaining hand on her bare shoulder.

"Did you know they were smoking in the dining-room, Nellie? Even some of
the _girls_ are smoking. If mother finds it