They had parted from Pendleton in London, as he was grumpy and queer, and, as Milly thought, becoming very miserly and avaricious as he grew older, for he was always quarreling over the hotel bills.

But he had Mrs.Woods's New York address at Under Cliff, and, of course, guessed where she was.

There was no address on his letter: he had said he would write again.
Thus much until they reached the steps of the veranda, and Milly, flying down, was ostentatiously overwhelmed with the unexpected appearance of Mr.Paul Hathaway and Yerba, whom she had been watching from the window for the last ten minutes.

Then the appearance of Mr.
Woods, Californian and reminiscent, and Mrs.Woods, metropolitan, languid, and forgetful, and the sudden and formal retirement of the girls.

An arch and indefinable mystery in the air whenever Paul and Yerba appeared together--of which even the servants were discreetly conscious.
At dinner Mr.Woods again became retrospective and Californian, and dwelt upon the changes he had noticed.