pon hers. "Now just close your eyes for a
minute; see, I have your hand,--so. Go to sleep."

There was not a sound in the room; Ruth stood where she had been placed,
and Mr. Levice was behind the doctor, his face quite colorless, scarcely
daring to breathe. Finally the faint, even breathing of Mrs. Levice told
that she slept.

Kemp turned to Mr. Levice and spoke low, not in a whisper, which
hisses, but his voice was so hushed that it would not have disturbed the
lightest sleeper.

"Put your hand, palm up, under hers. I am going to withdraw my hand and
retire, as I do not wish to excite her; she will probably open her eyes
in a few moments. Take her home as quietly as you can."

"You will call to-morrow?" whispered Levice.

He quietly assented.

"Now be deft." The transfer was quickly made, and nodding cheerfully,
Dr. Kemp left the room.

Ruth came forward. Five minutes later Mrs. Levice opened her eyes.

"Why, what has happened?" she asked languidly.

"You fell asleep, Esther," replied her husband, gently.

"Yes, I know; but why is Ruth in that gown? Oh--ye-es!" Consciousness
was returning to her. "And who was that handsome man who was here?"

"A friend of Ruth."

"He is very strong," she observed pensively. She lay back in her chair
for a few minutes as if dreaming. Suddenly she started up.

"What thoughtless people we are! Let us go back to the drawing-room, or
they will think something dreadful has happened."

"No, Mamma; I do not feel at all like going back. Stay here with Father
while I get our wraps."

Before Mrs. Levice could demur, Ruth had left the room. As she turned in
the direction of the stairs, she was rather startled by a hand laid upon
her shoulder.

"Oh, you, Louis! I am going for our wraps."

"Here they are. How is my aunt?"

"She is quite herself again. Thanks for the wraps. Will you call up the
carriage, Louis? We shall go immediately, but do not think of coming
yourself."

"Nonsense! Tell your mother you have made your adieux to Mrs.
Merrill,--she understands; the carriage is waiting."

A few minutes later the Levices and Louis Arnold quietly stole away.
Mrs. Levice has had an attack of hysteria. "Nothing at all," the world
said, and dismissed it as carelessly as most of the quiet turning-points
in a life-history are dismissed.

Chapter III

The Levices' house stood well back upon its grounds, almost with an air
of reserve in comparison with the rows of stately, bay-