was attired in a simple evening gown,--an old one, she hastily would
have informed a woman visitor,--and it was hard for him to believe that
this was not the lovely, riant Anne Tresslyn of a year ago instead of the
hardened mistress of Templeton Thorpe's home. There was no sign of
confusion or uncertainty in her manner, and not the remotest indication
that her heart still owned love for him. If she retained a spark of the
old flame in that beautiful body of hers, it was very carefully secreted
behind a mask of indifference. She met his gaze frankly, unswervingly. Her
poise was perfect,--marvellously so in the face of his ill-concealed
antipathy.

"I suppose you know that I have been left in sole charge of the case," he
said, without preface.

"Oh, yes," she replied calmly. "It was Mr. Thorpe's desire."

"And yours?"

"Certainly. Were you hoping that I would interpose an objection?"

"Yes. I am not qualified to take charge of--"

"Pardon me, Braden, if I remind you, that so far as Mr. Thorpe's chances
for recovery are concerned, he might safely be attended by the simplest
novice. The result would be the same." She spoke without a trace of irony.
"Dr. Bates and the others were willing to continue, but what was the use?
They do not leave you a thing to stand on, Braden. There is nothing that
you can do. I am sorry. It seems a pity for you to have come home to
this."

He smiled faintly, whether at her use of the word "home" or the prospect
she laid down for him it would be difficult to say.

"Shall we sit down, Anne, and discuss the situation?" he said. "It is one
of my grandfather's orders, so I suppose we shall have to obey."

She sank gracefully into a deep chair at the foot of the library table,
and motioned for him to take one near-by. The light from the chandelier
fell upon her brown hair, and glinted.

"It is very strange, Braden, that we should come into each other's lives
again, and in this manner. It seems so long ago--"

"Is it necessary to discuss ourselves, Anne?"

She regarded him steadily. "Yes, I think so," she said. "We must at least
convince ourselves that the past has no right to interfere with or
overshadow what we may choose to call the present,--or the future, for that
matter, if I may look a little farther ahead. The fact remains that we are
here together, Braden, in spite of all that has happened, and we must make
the best of it. The world,--our own little world, I mean,--will be watchin