nest in a rose-bush; theNelson Vanderly

r at a dimly-lit table under aceiling weighed down with Olympians, their chilly evening in acorner of a drawing room where minuets should have been danc

pecial effort to hide from each other theravages of their first disagreement. But, deep down andinvisible, the disagreement remained; and compun

ontinued, "Ellie Vanderlyn's hardly half an inch tallerthan I am; and she certainly isn't a bit more dignified .... Iwonder if it's because I feel so horribly small to-night thatthe place see

the things one couldn't reason about she wasoddly tenacious. And yet she had taken Streffy's cigars! Shehad taken them--yes, that was the point--she had taken them forNick, because the desire to please him, to make the smallestdetails of his life easy and agreeable

hadsaid something about the Signora's having left a letter for her;and there it lay on the writing-table, with her ma

have to say, when she hat

re addressed, in Ellie's hand, toNelson Vanderlyn Esqre; and in the corner of each was faintly

gasped Susy,

t it lie; she knew so well what it would say! She knewall about her friend, of course; except poor old Nelson, whodidn't, But she had never imagined that Ellie would dare to useher in this way. I

door between their rooms,and swept the

in such a mess."Gathering up Nick's papers and letters, she ran across the roomand thrust them through t

er lay onthe floor: reluctantly she stooped to pick it

n Ellie's child was here? Here,under the roof with them, left to their care? She read on,raging. "She's so delighted, poor darling, to know you'recoming. I've had to sack her beastly governess forimpertinence, and if it weren't for you she'd be all alone witha lot of servants I don't much trust. So for pity's sake begood to my child, and forgive me for leaving her. She thinksI've gone to take a cure; and she knows she's not to tell herDaddy that I'm away, b

her elbow,lay the four fatal envelopes; and her next

morrow, and rack her brains to find asubstitute for the hospitality they were rejecting. Susy didnot disguise from herself how much she had counted on theVanderlyn apartment for the summer: to be able to do so hadsingularly simplified the future. She knew Ellie's largeness ofhand, and had been sure in advance that as long as they were herguests their only expense would be an occasional present to theservants. And what would the alternative be? She and Lansing,in their endless talks, had so lived themselves into the visionof indolent summer days on the lagoon, of

her the kind of stand he wouldtake, and communicated to her something of his ownuncompromising energy. She would tell him the whole story inthe morning, and

of wrongs. But the factremained that, in the way of kindness, she did owe much toEllie; and that this was the first payment her friend had everexacted. She found herself, in fact, in exactly the sameposition as when Ursula Gillow, using the same argument, hadappealed to her to give

k on herpast it lay before her as a very network of perpetualconcessions and contrivings. But never before had she had sucha sense of being tripped up, gagged and pinioned. The lit

ingtable--one of the few wedding-presents she had consented t

urt out something ill-advised. The oldhabit of being always on her guard made her turn once more tothe looking-glass. Her face was pale and haggard; a

de as sheentered. His face was grave, and she said to her

r, she laid her arms on his shoulders. He lifted his handsto clasp hers, but, as he threw his head back to smile up at hershe no

," he said absently,pressing his lips to her

shouldnever have taken those cigars for myself!"For a moment he stared at her, and she stared back at him withequal g

s drawing a network of golden scales across thevaulted ceiling. The maid had just placed a tray on a slimmarquetry table near the bed, and ove

t Susy between the ribs of the toast-rack and the single tea-rose in an old Murano glass. Susy hadnot seen her for two years, and she seemed, in t

with you; butat least you'll have an eye on me, won't you?""An eye on you! I shall never want to have it off you

se cures. The servants don'talways obey me: you see I'm so little for my age. In a fewyears, of course, they'll have to--even if I don't grow much,"she added judiciously. She put out her hand and touched thestring of pearls about Susy's throat. "They're small, butthey're ve

the same."This point seemed to have lost its interest for Clarissa, whowas still g

ows andlaughed. "Why, what are you thinking of? Don't you rememberthat I wasn't even married the last time you saw me?""Y

t me to.""Going to be divorced? Of course not! What in the world madeyou th