to with a shock.

"Gerrard!" she cried, in her surprise revealing a sadly tear-stained
countenance.

Uncle Bob beat a retreat into the hall, where he paused, chuckling to
himself.

"Certainly it is I. Who should it be?" said her husband, taking a seat
beside her. "Why are you making such a sight of yourself, my dear? When
I telephoned out to know if you had arrived, they said you had and had
gone out again immediately, no one knew where. I came out to talk over
some business with William Knight, and when I was leaving I saw your car
over here, and thought I'd join you; but if my presence is unbearable,
I will withdraw." Mr. Pennington smiled at Margaret Elizabeth.

"Don't be silly, please, I have had a most trying day. I don't expect
you to understand."

Mrs. Pennington was recovering her poise. There was something
irresistibly steadying in her husband's matter-of-fact statement, and in
the sight of her niece sitting back on her heels and looking up at her
with lovely, solicitous eyes. Treachery and deceit became meaningless
terms in such connection.

"You haven't given us a chance to understand, Eleanor. What is the
trouble?" Mr. Pennington demanded.

"Uncle Gerry, I am afraid it is I," said Margaret Elizabeth, picking up
the note from the floor where it had fallen. "I am sorry, you know I am,
that I can't do as she wishes, but you understand that I can't. Tell
her, please, that I did honestly try to think I could, but it wasn't of
any use."

"Oh, come now, Eleanor, if that is it, of course we wanted Margaret
Elizabeth up at the Park; but the young people of this generation like
to manage their own affairs, as we did before them." Mr. Pennington
looked quizzically at his niece. "She's been getting up a bit of
melodrama for our benefit, that's all. If you will pardon the
suggestion, my dear, I think possibly it is you who do not understand."

Margaret Elizabeth, rising from her lowly position, threw him a kiss
over her aunt's head.

"How can I be expected to, with everything shrouded in mystery?" cried
Mrs. Pennington. "Why have I never heard of this person before? Why was
I left to be told dreadful things by a reporter?"

"A reporter!" cried Margaret Elizabeth, in her turn aghast.

"Nonsense! If you heard anything dreadful you know Margaret Elizabeth
well enough to know it was not true. But how in the world could a
reporter have got hold of it?"

"You speak so confidently, Gerrard, tell me, what do yo