girls, look! Don't you see that big schooner just rounding the point?"

"Yes, but what of it?"

"Why, that's the U. S. Coast Survey schooner Vortex, and she's going to be stationed here for a long time, and Dick knows all the officers aboard. How is that for a piece of news?"

"This must be your secret," laughed Eleanor.

"Of course, and didn't I keep it well? Dick told me weeks ago that they were coming."

"I say, it is jolly. We will have some fun, won't we?" It was Nathalie who spoke.

"It is a perfect god-send," declared Emily Varian, solemnly. "Nan, your secret is a success, and I congratulate you."

"I wonder," ruminated Jean, "who the men are, and whether we will really like them."

"Time will tell," spoke Helen, a bit indifferently. "Come, girls, we must be going. Here is the carriage."

Almost every evening the young people gathered together on the Lawrences' broad veranda, and to-night was no exception to the rule. When the girls strolled out from the dining room, they found Nan and Emily sitting on the steps.

"Why, we never heard you at all," said Jean. "You must have come over the lawn like—oh dear, I can't think of a comparison. The night is too warm for one to exert one's brain unnecessarily."

Nathalie seated herself on the railing.

"Here come Eleanor and Wendell Churchill."

"Ah!" laughed Jean teasingly. Her sister looked around at her with heightened color.

"Don't be silly, Jean."

"Do you know I have hardly seen you to-day, Miss Nathalie," said Churchill, finding a place on the railing at her side. "Where have you kept yourself?"

"Everywhere—anywhere. I have not been hard to find."

Nathalie's eyes were smiling wickedly into his, and his gave her back a smile.

"Now, let me explain," he began.

"Oh, don't let me put you to any unnecessary trouble," she interrupted with mock formality.

"You are very cruel to-night," said Churchill laughing. "By the way, Dick and I went down to the Vortex this afternoon, and there are some awfully good fellows aboard. I hope you girls will give them a good time."

"It seems to me that the responsibility ought to rest with them," interposed Eleanor Hill.

"Otherwise we should feel absolutely overwhelmed," said Nan comically.

"Here comes Dick now," exclaimed Nathalie, "and he has a strange man with him."

In a moment more Dick Andrews gained the veranda, and introduced his friend Beverly Dudley, of the Vortex.

It was Jean who came forward and, extending her hand, bade him welcome.

"Ah, Mr. Dudley, I fear you will feel yourself overwhelmed with such a bevy of girls, but let me help you. This is my sister Nathalie—my friends Miss Hill, Miss Birdsall, and Miss Varian. Unfortunately my elder sister is not here to receive you. She will join us presently. Emily, can't you make room for Mr. Dudley on the settle?" she added glancing about her.

Emily smiled radiantly, and Dudley, who seemed to be a charming youth, made his way to her side.

Leaving Nathalie and Em each happy in a tête-à-tête, the other girls formed a circle of which jolly Dick was the center, and much good-natured chaffing and light-hearted laughter were in order.

After a while Helen appeared in the doorway with two mandolins in her hands.

"What a good idea," exclaimed Eleanor enthusiastically. "Now we can have some singing."

"I can't very well shake hands, Mr. Dudley," said Helen, in response to Jean's introduction.

"Let me relieve you, Miss Lawrence."

"Thanks. Will you give this mandolin to my sister Nathalie?"

They all joined in a song, and their voices, with the mandolin accompaniment, sounded wondrously sweet in the soft night air.

It was growing late when Nan at last jumped up.

"I am sorry to break up the party, but Emily and I must be going. Father will have the town crier out pretty soon."

There was a general move, and Mr. Dudley crossed to Helen's side.

"I have had a charming evening, Miss Lawrence. I hope you will honor us with your presence on the Vortex very soon." He spoke with the soft drawl peculiar to Southerners.

"It will be a great pleasure, and indeed we will."

"Won't you let me walk home with you, Miss Varian?" he asked. "It is rather late for you to go alone."

Emily's answer was lost in a merry peal of laughter from Nan.

"Mr. Dudley evidently appreciates the dangers lurking in that desolate stretch of lawn between here and the parsonage," she said with good-natured sarcasm.

The girls joined in a general laugh, in spite of themselves, but Emily frowned portentously.

After "good-night" had been said all around, and Helen found herself alone in her room, she took out from between the leaves of a book the letter she had received in the morning. As she re-read it she glanced up from time to time at a likeness which stood on the table close at hand. It was the face of a very beautiful woman—a face delicate, oval in shape, with straight eyebrows, from under which looked out a pair of eyes with a world of witchery in their depths; the whole crowned by a halo of soft hair.

Helen dropped the letter in her lap, and folding her hands over it, fell into a deep reverie. Rousing herself at last, she slowly crossed the room, and opened a little drawer in her writing desk. There, hidden among some papers, lay another photograph—a man's face this time. As she looked at it steadily a heavy sigh escaped her lips, for it seemed to her that the grave eyes looked at her reproachfully. With a half-impatient exclamation she tossed it back into its hiding-place and closed the drawer sharply, and not until sleep claimed her did these two faces fade entirely from her mental vision.

CHAPTER III.

A LEAF FROM HELEN'S PAST.

Many years before the opening of this story the Lawrence children counted among their dearest friends a certain pleasant-faced, sturdy little chap, Guy Appleton by name, who never considered a day quite complete unless at least a part of it was spent at the hospitable manor. His own pretty home, Rose Cottage, lay only a stone's throw away, and there the little Lawrence girls passed many a happy hour. Mrs. Appleton and Mrs. Lawrence had been schoolgirls together, and the flight of years had but strengthened their friendship. Mrs. Appleton was delighted that her shy little son had found such pleasant companions, and in every way encouraged his intercourse with them. The Lawrences were all dear to Guy's boyish heart, but none held quite the same place as Helen. She had been especially kind and friendly to him, and for her his affection was particularly deep and adoring.

The years, as they rolled by, served but to increase his love for his little playmate, and from his allegiance to her he never swerved. When his college days were over and he was about to sail for Europe on an extended tour, he found it impossible to say farewell without speaking to her of the subject which lay nearest his heart.

Helen was very young and inexperienced, and these were the first words of love to which she had ever listened. Her tender heart was deeply touched, and Guy went away gladdened by her shy expression of sorrow at his departure, and by the whispered "Yes" that her lips spoke falteringly.

Helen had accepted her youthful lover, and many were the rejoicings among the small Hetherford circle over what they termed Helen's engagement; although the girl herself looked a little grave over so serious a term. At the manor the new relationship was accepted gladly, for it seemed only a