! Come, I'll introduce you to him--O he's all right! he's just
as white and modest as either of us; come on!" March proved himself both
modest and white, and as he walked away,

"This's a stra-a-ange world!" moralized the commercial man. "'Tain't him
I'm thinking of, it's her! She's in trouble, Tom; in trouble. And who
knows but what, for some mysterious reason, _I_ may be the only one on
earth who can--O Lord!--Look here; I'm not goin' to do any business
to-day; I'm not goin' to be fit; you needn't be surprised if you hear
to-night that I've gone off on a drunk."

Meantime Barbara had lifted the latch and gone in. No hat was on the
rack, but when she turned into the parlor a sickness came to her heart
as she smiled and said good-morning to Henry Fair. He, too, smiled, but
she fancied he was pale.

They mentioned the weather, which was quite pleasant enough. Fair said
the factories that used water-power would be glad of rain, and Barbara
seemed interested, but when he paused she asked, in the measured tone he
liked so well:

"Who do you think took us all by surprise and spent last evening with
us?"

Fair's reply came tardily and was disguised as a playful guess.
"Mister--"

"Yes--"

He sobered. "March!" he softly exclaimed, and let his gaze rest long on
the floor. "I thought--really I thought Mr. March was in New York."

"So did we all," was the response, and both laughed, without knowing
just why.

"He ought to have had a delightful time," said Fair.

Barbara meditated pleasedly. "Mr. March always lets one know what kind
of time he's having, and I never saw him more per-fect-ly sat-is-fied,"
she said, and allowed her silence to continue so long and with such
manifest significance that at length the suitor's low voice asked:

"Am I to understand that that visit alters my case?"

"No," responded Barbara, but without even a look of surprise. "I'm
afraid, Mr. Fair, that you'll think me a rather daring girl, but I want
you to be assured that I know of no one whose visit can alter--that."
She lifted her eyes bravely to his, but they filled. "As for Mr. March,"
she continued, and the same amusement gleamed in them which so often
attended her mention of him, "there's always been a perfect
understanding between us. We're the very best of friends, but no one
knows better than he does that we can never be more, though I don't see
why we need ever be less."

"I should call that hard terms, for myself," said Fair;