“Is Carl coming over to practice with you to-night?”
Miss Van Patten turned away.
“I haven’t been thinking of Carl.”
“How are you going to introduce him to this stranger?”
Miss Van Patten did not answer.
“You see,” observed Aunt Philomela as she rose from the table, “there are more complications here than you think of.”
The two made their way into the sitting-room. The aunt took a chair near the window. Miss Van Patten remained standing, looking out into the dark.
“I shall send a note to Carl telling him I’m engaged for this evening,” she concluded. She gave the letter to John and then returned. Aunt Philomela remained staring at the door. It was a full half hour before Barnes came down.
“Alaska,” he announced, sinking into a chair in the ark, “Alaska is said to be a cold country, but at times it gets most uncomfortably hot there.”