It was not in kind Aunt Barbara's nature to feel resentment toward him then, and she went to him at once, as she would have gone to Ethie, and, taking his hand in hers, said softly: "My poor boy! We have heard of your trouble.

Have you found her yet?
Do you know where she is ?" There was a look of anguish and disappointment in Richard's eyes as he replied: "I thought--I hoped I might find her here." "And that is the reason of your waiting so long before coming ?" Mrs.Dr.
Van Buren put in sharply.
It was three weeks now since Ethie's flight, and her husband had shown himself in no hurry to seek her, she reasoned; but Richard's reply, "I was away a week before I knew it, and I have been very sick since then," mollified her somewhat, though she sat back in her chair very stiff and very straight, eyeing him askance, and longing to pounce upon him and tell him what she thought.

First, however, she must have her dinner.

The tea would be spoiled if they waited longer; and when Aunt Barbara began to question Richard, she suggested that they wait till after dinner, when they would all be fresher and stronger.

So dinner was brought in, and Richard, as he took his seat at the nicely-laid table, where everything was served with so much care, did think of the difference between Ethie's early surroundings and those to which he had introduced her when he took her to his mother's house.