The Hollow of Her Hand

he house was wrapped in slumber on the first night of his stay at Southlook. It was as sketchily drawn as the one he had made of Hetty, and quite as wonderful in the matt

flattered, and made no pre

ry animated. It served to excite Leslie to such a degree that he brought forth

with confusion. Embarrassment and a shy sense of gratification were succeeded almost at once by a feeling of keen annoyance. The fact that the sketch was

d almost immediately. He felt guilty, and at the same time deeply annoyed with Leslie. Later on he

ossession of it, even for an instant, the thing would have been torn to bits. But it

ng at her with a fixedness that betrayed perplexity so plainly that she could not fail to recognise an underlying motive. He was vain

f his stay if they had ever met before, and she frankly confessed to a short memory for faces. It was not unlikely, she said, that

subject; in fact, he put it in such a way that she could not but feel that she would be doing him a great and enduring favour. She imposed but one condition: the picture was never to be exhibited. He met that, with bland magnan

e could see that he did not relish the idea of Hetty posing for days to the handsome, agreeable painter. Moreover, it meant that Booth, who could afford to gratify his own whims, would be obliged to spend a mo

een him emerge from each with an unscarred heart and a smiling visage. Never before had he shown the slightest sign of jealousy, even when the affair was at its rosiest. The excellent ego which mastered him would not permit him to forget himself so far as to consid

ly, insufferably in love as things went with all the Wrandalls. They hated selfishly, and so they loved. Her husband had been their king. But their king was dead, long liv

tect the air of condescension, the bland attitude of a superior who defends another's cause for the reason that it gratifies Nero. She experienced a

his friend on the progress of his campaign. They were seat

ngly. "Don't look so disconsolate. You're

re after leaving the little station behind. His attention seemed to

t?" he dema

nough to be asked aga

ves me a meal ticket, as it were. Nothing extraordinary in my goi

your disagreeable remark, I

l are you driv

cheer you up a

ank

ce of his friend, who had resumed his dreamy contemplation of the roof

ing better to do, come down and dine with us to-night-en famille. Viv said over the 'phone th

rdial, even eager invitation. He was seeking to play Vivian aga

eader, although in jes

othing better to do,"

he invitation come from

er, for i

got a meal ticket at our house, good for a million punc

ome," said Booth in the

He regained his usual loquaciousness. The points

as it was uttered. No sooner had it left his lips, however, than a new and rather stagger

ndid," said

to the interests of his own sister. Things of that sort never bothered Leslie. When all was said and done, Vivian had but a s

ifle straighte

to, which is the best

His lively imaginati

. Don't

ie, rather too eagerly: "she wouldn't object to having it exhibite

rowed. "I suppose I

courts pu

I mean is this: she's taken a fancy to you, and i

Les,-cut it out," g

t to paint her, I can fix it fo

ckle Miss Castleton first," said Boot

word tackle,

housand dollar Airdale who had stopped traffic in Fifth Avenue for twenty minutes while a sympathetic crowd viewed his gory remains, and an unhappy but garrulous taxi-cab driver tried to account for his crime. He never even thought of the insanity dodge. The Airda

ame alarmed and advised her husband to put her in a sanitarium. He was willing, poor chap, but not she. She couldn't see

They were so undeviatingly gauche and middle-class, that already the spiteful tongues of envy had begun to question his right to the medals and ribbons acquired at the bench shows, where Mrs. Rowe-Martin was considered one of the immortals

is nine o'clock until the stroke of ten, there may be some question as to which end of the middle-aged period she was rounding, but as that

ch's daughter should never enter society if she could prevent it, and went so far as to invite Challis to all of her affairs without asking his wife to accompany him, quite as if she didn't know that he had a wife. (In speaking of her to Challis, she invariably alluded to Sara as Miss Gooch, for something over a year after the wedding-and might have gone on for ever had not Mrs. Wrandall, senior, upset everything by giving a reception in honour of her daughter-in-law: a bolt from a clear sky, you may be sure, that left Mrs. Rowe-Martin stunned and bleeding on the battlefield of a mistaken cause.) She never quit

ng tea, with the

in, "I quite agree with you. L

, Harriet, his getting

he is interested-ver

Castl

glad you

is a

yesterday. When I mentioned that she is related to Lord Murgatroyd, Frances remembered her quite

er curiosity. In the most

tleton if she rememb

ung girls are not likely to remember elderly persons whom they meet-O

the Murgatroyds so inti

't believe Frances knows them at all-except as one knows people in a general sort of way. Drawing-rooms, you know, and all that sort of thing

. Wrandall softly, without

Martin defensively. Somehow, a defence was cal

ivided it. She put the chaff aside, for that was

mpressionable boy, you see,"

king," added her

e are concerned," said the subject's mother, speaking more truth than she kne

really devo

stess, with a faint sigh

e perfectly lovely.

feel. Of course, I want to be sure

ly natural. And

o a degenerate young English duke, the thought was submerged in the present sea of sentimentality. It speaks well for Vivian's characte

irl," said Mrs. Wrandall, again apro

re," agreed her frien

nd as a rivet, he also says. Nothing silly or flip about her, he adds when he is particularly enthusias

red a moment before ri

world you'd think a gently bred person would-" Here she pulled herself up with a jerk. "I mean, of course, a gently bred girl.

up, without taking her eyes

verything so far as the girl is concerned. I dare say she finds Sara amusing, interesting, and we all know she is kindness itself. It doesn't surp

amiable. "She has, indee

id intelligence," a

intelligence?" cried her friend, almost plaintively. "I've

into her friend's cup. Mrs. Rowe-Martin was silent. "Sara deserves a lot of credit. She

terms with the Wrandall family skeleto

o the position you held a few years ago. Heaven knows you

flutter of an eyelid, "I am not saying that I would select h

arply, and her hostess was so long in working it out that it was allowed to pa

er-in-law w

est such a thing, isn't it

d them. It was commonly predicted in society that Challis Wrandall's wife would further elevate herself by wedding the most

a moment's deliberation. "She is young and beautiful and we sincerely hope she

satisfied, then? You don't feel t

her handkerchief to th

jection to Miss Castleton, if that

"It would grieve me more than I can tell you if I thought you would have to go through with another experi

firmly; "Leslie is safe.

tive. "I suppose there

accept him,"

course, that Leslie m

er, with infi

e it is barely possible she

is

of speech,

rs. Wrandall