And Langholm began to wish he had mistaken the night.
"No," said Steel, "only a very few minutes, and the sin is ours entirely. But we thought you were staying away, like everybody else."
"Like—everybody—else?"
"My dear fellow," said Steel, smiling on the other's bewilderment, "I humbly apologize for having classed you for an instant with the rank and file of our delightful neighbors; for the fact is that all but two have made their excuses at the last moment. The telegrams will delight you, one of these days!"
"There was none from me," declared Langholm, as he began to perceive what had happened.
"There was not; and my wife was quite confident that you would come; so the fault is altogether mine. Langholm, you were almost at her heels when she was introduced to the old judge yesterday?"
"I was."
"Have you guessed who she was—before she married me—or has anybody told you?"
"I have guessed."
Steel stood silent for an instant, his eyes resting in calm scrutiny upon the other, his mouth as firm and fixed, his face fresh as a young man's, his hair like spun silver in the electric light. Langholm looked upon the man who was looking upon him, and he could not hate him as he would.