now, who may that be?" she exclaimed. "Go to the door, child. If 'tis a
stranger, we shelter none such, to be taken up for the harboring of
runaways!"

Audrey went to the door and opened it. A moment's pause, a low cry, and
she moved backward to the wall, where she stood with her slender form
sharply drawn against the white plaster, and with the fugitive, elusive
charm of her face quickened into absolute beauty, imperious for attention.
Haward, thus ushered into the room, gave the face its due. His eyes,
bright and fixed, were for it alone. Mistress Stagg's curtsy went
unacknowledged save by a slight, mechanical motion of his hand, and her
inquiry as to what he lacked that she could supply received no answer. He
was a very handsome man, of a bearing both easy and commanding, and
to-night he was splendidly dressed in white satin with embroidery of gold.
To one of the women he seemed the king, who could do no wrong; to the
other, more learned in the book of the world, he was merely a fine
gentleman, whose way might as well be given him at once, since, spite of
denial, he would presently take it.

Haward sat down, resting his clasped hands upon the table, gazing
steadfastly at the face, dark and beautiful, set like a flower against the
wall. "Come, little maid!" he said. "We are going to the ball together,
you and I. Hasten, or we shall not be in time for the minuet."

Audrey smiled and shook her head, thinking that it was his pleasure to
laugh at her a little. Mistress Stagg likewise showed her appreciation of
the pleasantry. When he repeated his command, speaking in an authoritative
tone and with a glance at his watch, there was a moment of dead silence;
then, "Go your ways, sir, and dance with Mistress Evelyn Byrd!" cried the
scandalized ex-actress. "The Governor's ball is not for the likes of