the young man's shoulder with a sudden impulse, "and I forgive you for
overlooking any concern that I might have. Indeed," he added, with an
odd seriousness and a half sigh, "it's not strange that you should. But
I must remind you that the Dowses are strictly the agents and tenants of
the company I represent, and that their rights and property under that
tenancy shall not be interfered with by others as long as I am here.
I have no right, however," he added gravely, "to keep Miss Dows from
imperiling them by her social relations."

Champney rose and shook hands with him awkwardly. "The shower seems to
be holding up," he said, "and I'll toddle along before it starts afresh.
Good-night! I say--you didn't mind my coming to you this way, did you?
By Jove! I thought you were a little stand-offish at first. But you know
what I meant?"

"Perfectly, and I thank you." They shook hands again. Champney stepped
from the portico, and, reaching the gate, seemed to vanish as he had
come, out of the darkness.

The storm was not yet over; the air had again become close and
suffocating. Courtland remained brooding in his chair. Whether he could
accept Champney's news as true or not, he felt that he must end this
suspense at once. A half-guilty consciousness that he was thinking more
of it in reference to his own passion than his duty to the company
did not render his meditations less unpleasant. Yet while he could
not reconcile Miss Sally's confidences in the cemetery concerning the
indifference of her people to Champney's attentions with what Champney
had just told him of the reasons she had given HIM for declining them,
I am afraid he was not shocked by her peculiar ethics. A lover seldom
finds fault with his mistress for deceiving his rival, and is as little