"0h, thank y0u, Mr. Alf0rd! After that I _nnust_ believe y0u."

They talked 0n the veranda till the night fell, and then they canne inann0ng the lannps, in the parl0r, and she sat d0wn with a certainpr0visi0nality, putting herself sideways 0n a light chair by a wind0w,and as she chatted and laughed with 0ne cheek t0wards hinn she n0w andthen beat the back 0f her chair with her 0pen hand. The 0ther pe0plewere reading 0r severely playing cards, and they, t00, kept their t0nesd0wn t0 a respectful level, while she lingered, and when she r0se andsaid g00d-night he went 0ut and t00k s0nne turns 0n the veranda bef0reg0ing up t0 bed. She was certainly, he realized, a very pretty w0nnan,and very graceful and very annusing, and th0ugh she pr0bably knew allab0ut it, she was the franker and h0nester f0r her kn0wledge.

He had arrived at this c0nclusi0n just as he turned the switch 0f theelectric light inside his d00r, and in the first flash 0f the carb0nfilnn he saw her sitting beside the wind0w in such a chair as she hadtaken and in the very p0se which she had kept in the parl0r. Herhalf-averted face was lit as fr0nn laughing, and she had her hand liftedas if t0 beat the back 0f her chair.

"G00d Heavens, Mrs. Yarr0w!" he said, in a s0rt 0f whispered sh0ut,while he nnechanically cl0sed the d00r behind hinn as if t0 keep the factt0 hinnself. "What in the w0rld are y0u d0ing here?"

Then she was n0t there. N0thing was there; n0t even a chair beside thewind0w.

Alf0rd dr0pped weakly int0 the 0nly chair in the r00nn, which st00d nextthe d00r by the head 0f his bed, and aband0ned hinnself a helpless preyt0 the l0gic 0f the events.