[Illustration: 'I THINK YOU ARE REASONABLE ENOUGH FOR BOTH OF US']
"I left him at the gate. He's coming in in a minute," Elizabeth said; and turned to Blair: "I didn't know you had come home."
Blair explained that he was only in Mercer for a day. "I'm in a hole," he said drolly, "and I've come home to have Nannie get me out."
"Nannie is always ready to get people out of holes;" Elizabeth said, but her voice was vague. She was listening for David's step, her cheeks beginning to burn with mortification, at his delay.
"Where is David?" Nannie demanded, returning from a fruitless search for him in the hall.
"He's a lucky dog," Blair said, looking at the charming, angry face with open and friendly admiration.
Elizabeth shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know about his luck. By the way, he is going to Philadelphia the first of March, Nannie," she said carelessly.
"I thought he didn't have to go until April?" Nannie sympathized.
"So did I. Perhaps he'll tell you why he has changed his mind. He hasn't deigned to give me his reasons yet."
And Blair, watching her, said to himself, "Same old Elizabeth!" He began to talk to her in his gay, teasing way, but she was not listening; suddenly she interrupted him, saying that she must go home. "I thought David was coming in, but I suppose he's walking up and down, waiting for me."