dresses. No good to show me pretty frocks--unless they're filled."

"La! You are so clever; at times I'm really afraid of you," said she.

She went on tossing a few blooms into her basket. Under the stimulus of the
fire she had acted on impulse in going out into the garden. She realized it
as perhaps a mistake. Keith's early morning freshness and fitness made her
feel less sure of herself than usual. She had an uneasy impression that she
was not at her best, and this reacted on her ability to exercise her usual
magnetism. In fact, Keith, the least observant of men in such things, could
not avoid noticing her rather second-hand looking skin, and that her
features were more pronounced than he had thought.

"Do come over this evening for some music," she begged. "You can take a nap
this afternoon, and you can go home early."

Keith had been just a little uneasy over this second interview with Mrs.
Morrell. His straightforward nature was inclined to look back on the
impression she had made on him at the supper party with a half-guilty sense
of some sort of vague disloyalty he could not formulate. Now he felt much
satisfied with himself, and quite relieved. Therefore, he accepted.

"I shall be very glad to," said he.

At breakfast, which was rather late, he told Nan of the meeting and the
invitation. Nan's clear lines, fresh creamy skin, bright young eyes, looked
more than usually attractive to him.

"Perhaps she _can_ play," he said. "Let's go find out. And you must wear
your prettiest gown; I'm proud of my wife, and I want her to look her very