t is the surprise of it all. But you said I
might have a long time. I must talk with daddy and Eleanor, you know.
And I shall think it all over most carefully, please believe me." Alice
held out her hand cordially. "Will you excuse me now--I really must see
Eleanor."

Covington watched the girl in amazement as she hastily withdrew her hand
and fled from the room. The self-possessed young woman whom he had met
day after day had vanished, and in her place he saw the youthful
school-girl, frightened into a loss of self-control by the offer of
marriage he had just tendered her. Yet the whole episode amused him
hugely. He smiled as he thought of his wife-to-be--the future Mrs. John
Covington--running like a frightened deer from the first situation which
took her by surprise! It was not as he had pictured it, but youth is a
malady from which one's convalescence is ever speedy, and he could enjoy
it while it lasted. He found his way to the front door unguided, where
he paused for a moment and looked back, as if expecting to see the lithe
form of the girl peering over the banister; but no sound came from the
floor above, and the staircase was vacant.

"An amusing little minx," he laughed to himself, as he passed out of the
house.

Alice lost no time in seeking Eleanor, eager to pour into her
sympathetic ears the new problem which had presented itself. Instead,
she found Patricia, curled up in an easy-chair, rereading her _Knights
of the Round Table_ with renewed interest. She bent over to kiss her,
but the child drew away.

"I don't love you any more," she announced.

"You don't!" asked Alice, taken by surprise.

"No; you're so mean to Allen."

The girl laughed. "Don't be silly, Pat. Why, Allen is only a kid, like
you. Where's mamma Eleanor?"

"Lying down in her room; but he isn't a kid--he's my Knight."

"All right; you may have him," Alice answered, lightly, turning toward
the door.

"Alice!"

The older girl turned. "Well?" she interrogated.

"Is Mr. Covington a cat?"

"What do you mean?"

"Allen said to me the other day, 'Listen to him purr.'"

"Allen ought to have his ears boxed."

"No, he oughtn't"--but the door had slammed, and Patricia was alone with
her Knights.

Alice tiptoed into Mrs. Gorham's room, then started to withdraw as
Eleanor appeared to be asleep, but the older woman stopped her.

"Come in, dear," she said; "I am only resting."

"Are you ill?" the girl asked, anxiously, all thought