Ina was reposing, as Ephraim was ushered into her presence, beneath a lavender and white comfortable. He was thrilled. Grace itself was in the movement of her hand and arm, as she reached out to accept his proffered apology. There was none of the studied posing and writhing of the finished society product in Ina. She was just natural. The attentive nurse, who had divined the situation this meeting would present between the two interested parties, conveniently absented herself in the adjoining room with a door between, only as far ajar as propriety demanded. She was too experienced in the susceptibility of young people who are thrown together through sympathetic conditions, if only from the observation standpoint, to be unmindful of the possibilities this case afforded in a heart direction. The earnestness and faithful devotion Ephraim had shown to the object of his rashness, and the no end of questioning Ina had directed at the nurse, seeking minute particulars as to his personality, even more than about the almost fatal accident and suffering she had endured, encouraged the good Samaritan to hope that these two people might become more interested in each other.

The earnestness in Ephraim's plea for forgiveness, and the manly presentation of his wish to make all possible amends, was full compensation to the little ravishing beauty for all she had endured. She was pleased with the manly demeanor of Ephraim, and revealed her identity freely and frankly. She was alone in the world as far as immediate family went. Her parents had both died in a Western state when she was a child. With life saddened by this cruel fate, home of a makeshift description had been provided for her until an age of partial independence. First it was with an uncle, then with two aunts in a small city in the state where she first saw the light of day, with its

glory fading almost before she could remember her parents, the gloom of perpetual loneliness and everlasting orphanage settling down on her young life. That Ina was more than ordinarily intelligent one would surmise at once. To hear her direct, businesslike manner of expressing ideas the conviction would deepen. That she had been able to care for herself and had worked into a most responsible position as amanuensis with a leading linguist, after a short course in New York City, was easily understood. It was from the literary studio of that gentleman, in the fashionable part of the city, Ina was going the afternoon of the misfortune—if one should call it a misfortune that had brought this young man into her life.

Ephraim, on his part made known the fact with characteristic candor, that he too had come to the city to make his way in the world; that he was single and had no entangling alliances. This let down the defense of conservative restraint, which his new found admirer had secreted herself behind up to that moment. There was nothing flirtatious, or careless-spoken about the conversation of either. The environment, the peculiar condition under which they had been thrown together, and freedom of both to have and hold the friendship of each other, made their course most agreeably

easy.

CHAPTER XL.

The months that followed the death of Uncle Orson served as a period for attaining mental quietude for all of his household.

Aunt Norma saw little of Ephraim. He called infrequently and devoted the hurried moments of his conversation to business subjects which were necessary for him to discuss with the executrix and principal beneficiary of his uncle's will. A trust company had joint administrative authority with Mrs. Adamson, which was a wise provision, considering her limited knowledge of business. She proffered little advice and withheld suggestions relying upon Ephraim to exercise his judgment. Her helplessness and inexperience appealed to him in spite of all there had been between them.

A convenient bequest was embodied in the last will and testament of Uncle Orson for Ephraim and Annabelle. To the latter it was a substantial inheritance, and assured her "almost an independent income," in the grateful way she regarded the remembrance. Ephraim, although thankful-the sum was the same in each case-realized that he had lost heavily, in a business-prospective sense, by the taking away of his uncle, the directing head of the great administrative machinery. Brother Addison and his wife, Melissa, sincerely mourned the demise of the successful member of the family, who had won fame and distinction in the great city where their son was seeking to attain prominence and competence. Their remembrances in the form of personal tokens, identified closely with the life and experience of the good man, were more acceptable than riches, for which they had no need.

Ephraim in a few weeks had a confidential talk with the man now placed at the head of the offices. He was advised his place was secure in a sense out of deference to the memory of his uncle," if he rendered satisfactory services. Changes were noted almost daily in the personnel of the employees. New faces appeared at the head of important departments, in the executive positions and among the ordinary clerkships. It was only the natural order of things, which results when the helm is in new hands.

Such a condition necessarily had a disquieting effect, and Ephraim could not throw off the spell of gloom that settled upon the head of every former associate of Uncle Orson.

At times, when reflecting, Ephraim regretted ever having gone to New York. He had traveled fast in the comparatively short time he had been there, and in that way arrived at his destination-dissatisfaction, earlier than the less strenuous, who plodded along and consumed more time, hitting the high places under less speed. Then again, when in the society of that little star of the firmament of love, Ina, to whose charm he had harnessed his attachment, it looked altogether different.

The very nature of their association fostered love and the fire resultant from the flame of devoted attachment. Fervored environment savors of love making. The voice of the courier is not heard in fields of harvest announcing the tilling of the fertile soil of affection. Neither is it lifted in celebration of the festival of affinity. No bugler sends forth the resounding echo of correlativeness when the time to garner arrives as Nature's pathway is trodden by lad and lassie.

It is the low, sweet, slumbrous note of the flute that produces the heart grip; the moments of quiet; the com

munion of souls; the touch of the chord of sympathy that incline the heart rays to the radiating center.

Subtle flattery was not employed by Ina in awakening the sympathy of Ephraim. He was most susceptible from the moment he entered Room No. 14. Age cannot wither nor custom stale the sacred right of man to make a fool of himself over a pretty face. The folly of such actions has made brave men weep and fair women repent when moments of sanity have come.

A description of the acts and impulses of Ephraim and Ina after her discharge from the hospital would be a picture of pure sentimental revels. They soared to lofty intellectual and artistic heights in the enthusiasm of youth and new-found attachment. They counted not the bitter invective of saner, surer moments of awakening. They figured that this life is his or hers to live who becomes a creature of circumstances and told themselves that sympathetic age has a substitute of something better for what is good. They discounted the safeguard of propriety, to satisfy selfish pleasure. Their field glass was not focused on the port of reputation intact, while they sailed the seas of pleasure. They depreciated the importance of the little niche called character we all have to fill, which is ours while we live, and sacred to our memory when we die. They appealed to their own elemental emotions for justification of their indiscretions.