ld at once gain Kitty's warm if
unstable attention, her impulsive sympathy, and----. At this moment, the
severe and forbidding butler informed him that Mrs. Hampton was not at
home, was out of town, and all further inquiries were met by a polite and
non-committal "I don't know, sir."

Hayden turned away both disappointed and resentful. On the occasion of
their walk, a few days before, Kitty had not mentioned to him any
contemplated journey, and now, just as he was counting on enlisting her
good offices, she had left him completely in the lurch, and all his plans
for again meeting Marcia Oldham were, as he expressed it, up in the air.

To add to his general sense of disappointment and injury, he had had a
brief line from Penfield saying that he had so far made no progress in
some investigations he was making, but felt, nevertheless, that he was on
the correct trail and hoped to turn up something within a short time.

Three or four days passed, the end of the week arrived, and still Kitty
had not returned. Hayden felt like a man on a desert island who watches
ships passing back and forth laden with merry pleasure-parties, too much
absorbed in their own amusements or too indifferent to his sufferings to
rescue him; and his sense of isolation and depression was greatly
increased by the one, last, unnecessary, bitter drop in his cup--for the
lady of his dreams had wantonly mocked him. Her promises had been idle as
the wind. She had assured him that she would be anything but difficult to
discover, had given the impression that he might chance to meet her at
any moment, but the hopes she had held out were cheats, and she had
succeeded either wilfully or by force of circumstances in very
successfully eluding him. She had vanished as completely as if she had
been that shadowy astral wraith they had jestingly discussed, and he was
not only baffled and perplexed but wounded.

His pride, very sore pride at present, was touched, and he told himself
that since she chose thus to withdraw he would certainly not make a
definite and overt attempt to follow. Then, by way of adhering strictly
to this very good resolution, he proceeded to accept every social
invitation which came his way, went religiously to luncheons, dinners,
dances, anything that offered. He even invaded shops and strolled up and
down Fifth Avenue; but New York was empty of her. She had vanished as
suddenly as she had appeared.

One evening, just as he was really beg