low over her hand, uttering
explanations in a low tone. Her surprise had yielded to what Archie,
loitering behind, thought an expression of relief and satisfaction. He
moved forward as the Governor turned toward him.

"Miss Hastings, Mr. Comly."

The girl had risen, perhaps the better to hide her agitation, Archie
thought. She absently accepted the cup of punch brought by her partner,
who, seeing her preoccupied with two strangers, pledged her to another
dance and left them.

"My name here," the Governor was saying, "is Saulsbury."

A slight shrug and a frown betrayed displeasure, but it was only for a
moment and she smiled in spite of herself. The Governor's occasional
references to the woman who had enchained his affections had not
prepared Archie for this presentation to a Ruth who might have passed
for seventeen in a hasty scrutiny and upon whose graceful head it seemed
a wickedness to add the five years the Governor had attributed to her.
She was below medium height, with brown hair and eyes. There was
something wonderfully sweet and appealing in her eyes. Imagination had
set its light in them and the Governor was a man to awaken romantic
dreams in imaginative women. The tan of her cheeks emphasized her look
of youth; she would have passed for a school girl who lived in tennis
courts and found keen delight on the links. How and where the Governor
could have known her was a matter of speculation, but in his wanderings
just such a charming gipsy might easily have captured his fancy. The
Governor had never, not even in the presence of his sister, been so
wholly the gentleman as now. He was enormously happy, but with a subdued
happiness. He was upon his good behavior and Archie was satisfied that
he would in no way abuse the hospitality of the house he had entered
with so much effrontery. The girl would take care of that in any event.
The humor of the thing was appealing to her, and her eyes danced with
excitement. How much she knew about the Governor was another baffling
matter; but she knew enough at least to know that his appearance was an
impudence and with all discretion she was enjoying her connivance in her
lover's appearance. A wise, self-contained young person, capable of
extricating herself from even more perilous situations. Archie liked
Ruth. The Governor had said that she was a bishop's daughter but for all
that she might have been the child of a race of swarthy kings.

"You couldn't have thought tha