Ned smiled, waved his hand and from the door firmly answered:

"As you like—from to-day—foes——"

He closed the door and with swift step turned his face toward the house of Senator Winter.


[CHAPTER VII]

[LOVE AND DUTY]

The pretty Irish maid nodded and smiled with such a sympathetic look as she ushered Ned into the cosy back parlor, he wondered if it meant anything. Could she have guessed Betty's secret? She might give him a hint that would lift the fear from his heart.

He smiled back into her laughing eyes and began awkwardly:

"Oh, I say, Peggy——"

She dropped a pretty courtesy: