that I had never met him."

"Oh, I see. Of course! I should have remembered that!"

Miss Hopkins's entire contempt for Alicia's mentality overcame any
suspicion she might have entertained. Also, she had come determined
to discover what she could about The Author, and she was not one
lightly to be put aside. She said, smiling tolerantly:

"Of course you should! But mayn't I congratulate _you_ upon knowing
him? Having him here in Hynds House almost justifies turning the old
place into a boarding-house, doesn't it?"

"The Author," Mr. Jelnik remarked gently, "has a very sensitive
soul. I shudder to think what the effect upon him would be were he
to hear himself referred to as a boarder. My dear Miss Hopkins,
never, never let him hear you designate him 'boarder'!"

"Who's talking about boarders?" asked a hearty voice, and Doctor
Richard Geddes came in like a gale of mountain air.

"Miss Hopkins. She thinks The Author's presence almost justifies the
turning of Hynds House into a boarding-house," answered Mr. Jelnik.
He added, thoughtfully, "Curious notion; isn't it?"

"Martha has plenty more," said the doctor, bluntly. "Boarding-house?
Well, supposing? What was it before? A hyena-cage, Martha, a
hyena-cage, into which you'd be the last to venture your nose, my
dear woman! I say, put on your bonnets, all of you, and let's have a
spin in the fresh air. The roads are gorgeous. You can come too,
Jelnik: there's room for five."

Mr. Jelnik was desolated: he had a pressing engagement. Miss Hopkins
rose precipitately. She also had an engagement; besides, she liked
to walk. People needed to walk more than they did. The reason why
one saw so many bad figures nowadays, was that people lolled around
in automobiles instead of walking.

"Well, walking is certainly good for you, Martha. It helps you to
reduce," the doctor agreed. Miss Hopkins said dryly that the little
walking she intended to do just then wouldn't affect her weight any.
And that Doctor Geddes should himself take to walking: men always
got fat as they neared fifty.

"Fat! Fifty!" roared the doctor, with enraged astonishment. "Why,
I'm not by some years as old as you are, Martha! You were several
classes ahead of me in school, don't you remember? I am exactly
thirty-nine years old, and as you know everything else, you ought to
know that!"

Miss Hopkins studied him with a balefully level eye.

"You really can't blame anybody for forgetting it, Richard," she
s