He had not reached Boston when the engagement was announced.

He knew none of Billy's friends in town save the Henshaw brothers.

He had not heard from Calderwell since he came to Boston.

The very evident intimacy of Billy with the Henshaw brothers he accepted as a matter of course, knowing the history of their acquaintance, and the fact that Billy was Mr.William Henshaw's namesake.

As to Bertram being Billy's lover--that idea had long ago been killed at birth by Calderwell's emphatic assertion that the artist would never care for any girl--except to paint.