THE FIRST OBSTACLE A drizzling rain began to fall and an overcast sky, cold and bleak, dropped lower and lower until it covered the dripping park like a sombre mantle.

The glass in the hood of the hansom kept out the biting rain, but the drear approach of a wet evening was not to be denied.

For nearly three hours Hugh and Grace had been driven through the park and up the Riverside, killing time with a nervous energy that was beginning to tell.

The electric lights were coming on; pavements glistened with the glare from the globes; tiny volcanoes leaped up by thousands as the patting, swishing raindrops flounced to the sidewalks.
"Isn't it dismal ?" murmured Grace, huddling closer to his side.

"I thought the weather man said it was to be nice?
It's horrid!" "I think it's lovely!" said he beamingly.