o see Aileen
during the twelve hours he was in town, for the girl came home as
requested shortly before six, but with a headache, and the excuse for it
that she had rowed too far in the sun on the way up to the sheds.

"My nephew told me he was going to row up to the sheds, too--did you
happen to meet him there?" she inquired. She was studying the profile of
the girl's flushed and sunburned face. Aileen had just said good night
and was about to leave Mrs. Champney's room. She turned quickly to face
her. She spoke with sharp emphasis:

"I did _not_ meet your nephew at the sheds, Mrs. Champney, nor did I see
him there--and I'll thank you, after what you said to me this morning,
to draw no more conclusions in regard to your nephew's seeing or meeting
me at the sheds or anywhere else--it's not worth your while; for I've no
desire either to see or meet him again. Perhaps this will satisfy you."
She left the room at once without giving Mrs. Champney time to reply.

A self-satisfied smile drew apart Mrs. Champney's thin lips; evidently
the girl's lesson was a final and salutary one. She would know her place
after this. She determined not to touch on this subject again with
Aileen; she might run the risk of going too far, and she desired to keep
her with her as long as possible. But she noticed that the singing voice
was heard less and less frequently about the house and grounds. Octavius
also noticed it, and missed it.

"Aileen, you don't sing as much as you did a while ago--what's the
matter?" he asked her one day in October when she joined him to go up
street after supper on an errand.

"Matter?--I've sung out for one while; I'm taking a rest-cure with my
voice, Tave."

"It ain't the kind of rest-cure that'll agree with you, nor I guess any
of us at Champo. There ain't no trouble with her that's bothering you?"
He pointed with a backward jerk of his thumb to the house.

"No."

"She's acted mad ever since I told her Champney had to go back that
night and tend to business; guess she'd set her heart on his making a
match on that yachting cruise--well, 't would be all in the family,
seeing there's Champney blood in the Van Ostends, good blood
too,--there's no better," he added emphatically.

"Oh, Tave, you're always blowing the Champneys' horn--"

"And why shouldn't I?"--he was decidedly nettled. "The Champneys are my
folks, my townspeople, the founders of this town, and their interests
have always been mine--why sho