"Yes, the 17th of August; and seven days more will bring the 24th of
August, Dora."
"Of course. Do you suppose he will be here by that time?" asked Dora unconsciously.
Karl looked at her in a sort of comic despair.
"Dora, if you were not the most utterly truthful of girls, you would be the most cruel of coquettes."
Dora's eyes rose swiftly to his face, read it for a moment, and then fell; while a sudden color dyed her own.
"You remember the date now?" asked Karl, almost mockingly. "See here!" and, taking from his pocket the memorandum-book of a year before, he opened it to a page bearing only the words,—
"Dora. Wednesday, Aug. 24."
"O Karl! I thought"—
"Stop, general! It is I who must be officer of the day on this occasion; and I forbid one word. I only wished to let you see that I have not forgotten. And so Mr. Brown is coming to see us?"
Again Dora glanced in perplexity at her cousin's face, but, this time, said not a word. Indeed, if she had wished, there was hardly time; for Kitty, appearing at the door, called,—