overed in Mr. Littleton one who should have been
a friend long before, succeeded in carrying him off to dinner. Yet,
before taking his leave, he came back to Selma for a few words. She had
overheard Mrs. Taylor's invitation, and she asked herself why she too
might not become better acquainted with this young man whose attitude
toward her was that of respectful admiration. To have a strange young
man to dine off-hand struck her as novel. She had a general conviction
that it would seem to Lewis closely allied to light conduct, and that
only foreigners or frivolous people let down to this extent the bars of
family life. Now that Mrs. Taylor had set her the example, she was less
certain of the moral turpitude of such an act, but she concluded also
that her husband would be in the way at table. What she desired was an
opportunity for a long, interesting chat about high things.

While she reflected, he was saying to her, "I understand that your
committee is to supervise my work until the new church is completed, so
I shall hope to have the opportunity to meet you occasionally. It will
be necessary for me to make trips here from time to time to see that
everything is being done correctly by the mechanics."

"Do you go away immediately?"

"It may be that I shall be detained by the arrangements which I must
make here until day after to-morrow."

"If you would really like to see me, I live at 25 Onslow Avenue."

"Thank you very much." Littleton took out a small memorandum book and
carefully noted the address. "Mrs. Babcock, 25 Onslow Avenue. I shall
make a point of calling to-morrow afternoon if I stay--and probably I
shall."

He bowed and left Selma pleasantly stirred by the interview. His voice
was low and his enunciation sympathetically fluent. She said to herself
that she would give him afternoon tea and they would compare ideas
together. She felt sure that his must be interesting.

Later in the evening at Mrs. Taylor's, when there was a pause in their
sympathetic interchange of social and aesthetic convictions, Littleton
said abruptly:

"Tell me something, please, about Mrs. Babcock. She has a suggestive as
well as a beautiful face, and it is easy to perceive that she is
genuinely American--not one of the women of whom we were speaking, who
seem to be ashamed of their own institutions, and who ape foreign
manners and customs. I fancy she would illustrate what I was saying just
now as to the vital importance of our c