pening the gate
and extending his hand. "Who would have thought of meeting you here?"

Kemp grasped his hand heartily.

"I am a sort of surprise-party," he answered, swinging Ethel to the
ground and watching her scamper off to the hotel; "and what is more," he
continued, turning to him, "I have not brought a hamper, which makes one
of me."

"You calculate without your host," responded Levice; "this is a
veritable land of milk and honey. Come up and listen to my wife
rhapsodize."

"How is she?" he asked, turning with him and catching a glimpse of
Ruth's vanishing figure.

"Feeling quite well," replied Levice; "she is all impatience now for a
delirious winter season."

"I thought so," laughed the doctor; "but if you take my advice, you will
draw the bit slightly."

Mrs. Levice was delighted to see him; she said it was like the sight of
a cable-car in a desert. He protested at such a stupendous comparison,
and insisted that she make clear that the dummy was not included. The
short afternoon glided into evening, and Dr. Kemp went over to the hotel
and dined at the Levices' table.

Ruth, in a white wool gown, sat opposite him. It was the first time
he had dined with them; and he enjoyed a singular feeling over the
situation. He noticed that although Mrs. Levice kept up an almost
incessant flow of talk, she ate a hearty meal, and that Ruth, who was
unusually quiet, tasted scarcely anything. Her father also observed it,
and resolved upon a course of strict surveillance. He was glad to hear
that the doctor had to leave on the early morning's train, though, of
course, he did not say so. As they strolled about afterward, he managed
to keep his daughter with him and allowed Kemp to appropriate his wife.

They finally drifted to the cottage-steps, and were enjoying the beauty
of the night when Will Tyrrell presented himself before them.

"Good-evening," he said, taking off his hat as he stood at the foot of
the steps. "Mr. Levice, Father says he has at last scared up two other
gentlemen; and will you please come over and play a rubber of whist?"

Mr. Levice felt himself a victim of circumstances. He and Mr. Tyrrell
had been looking for a couple of opponents, and had almost given up the
search. Now, when he decidedly objected to moving, it would have been
heartless not to go.

"Don't consider me," said the doctor, observing his hesitancy. "If it
ill relieve you, I assure you I shall not miss you in the least."

"Go