“What is the matter, Everet?” his mother asked. “Are you in trouble?”
“No,” he answered, briefly, and then added: “Have you seen enough here?”
“Yes, I have been ready to go for some time; I have only been waiting for you. I have been quite interested in a young couple who have just gone out—your ‘double,’ as you call him, and a lovely young girl. Perhaps you met them.”
“Yes, I passed them as I came in.”
“Who is she?”
“She is the daughter of the man who adopted him; her name is Gladys Huntress.”
“Gladys? What an appropriate name. She is a veritable sunbeam. Do you know her?”
“Yes; I have met her a great many times in New York society,” the young man returned, but with a face so pale and pained that his mother could not fail to notice it.
“Everet, I believe that you have fallen in love with her, yourself!” she said, in a startled tone.
“It would not be a very difficult thing for any man to do, would it?” he asked, trying to smile, yet with a ring of pain in his voice.