"You've been like a brother to us, Mr. Williams. I shall never forget what you were to father and to all of us when the news came about Franklin, and how you comforted poor fatherless little Ora."
The entrance of Miss Phenie and Ora put an end to the confidential talk. Ora was quiet beyond the ordinary, and once or twice Miss Phosie thought she saw a suggestion of tears in the girl's eyes. "I hope, oh I do hope we are doing right," she said to herself, and she was even gentler to her niece than was her wont.
Miss Phenie in her best blue-and-white sateen, trimmed with lace, stepped about with the air of one unaccustomed to the performance of menial duties. She retired to the garden after cutting the cake and setting out the preserves. "I'll get some fresh flowers for the table," she said, as she sailed out. The ornamental was always her preference.
After supper Ora stole forth into the odorous night. The moon had not yet risen, though the sea reflected an expectant brightness and the afterglow still reddened the west. A light shone from the little hall where the summer people gathered for various entertainments. Some one was singing there, a song whose refrain was all of love. Ora crept up to an open window and listened for a moment, then moved softly away and was soon lost in the shadows of the mighty rocks which marked the trysting place of herself and her young lover.
Meanwhile Luther Williams was taking his evening smoke as he sauntered up the cove road toward the further point. Half way he met Kenneth Hilary. "Going the other way to-night?" he said to the young man.
"Yes, for this has been a good day for me. I wish I could stop to tell you. I will another time. Now I am bound for Wits' End. Miss Gwen is giving a chafing-dish party to-night."
"And you are in a hurry, of course."
Kenneth turned back and said a little shamefacedly, "No-o,—that is—well, you know Wits' End is a mighty good place for a fellow to be. I sold a picture to-day."
"Good! and you want to tell your news before it gets stale. I see."
"She is so sweet and sympathetic, you know."