"I hope your friend did not think me inhospitable for not including her in my invitation to-day, but when I want to get to know a girl I prefer to have her entirely to myself. Perhaps she will come another day. Vernon's sister ought to be worth knowing." "You know Dan?" Darsie's smile was somewhat anxious, for Dan's own manner with respect to her hostess was still a disturbing element. "You know him well?" "No," Mrs Reeves smiled; "not well. But I like him well by repute! Vernon has no need of my services. He is strong: enough to stand by himself." "You mean tea-parties?" queried Darsie vaguely, whereat Mrs Reeves subsided into a ripple of laughter. "No, I do _not_ mean tea-parties--something very much wider. I don't fancy, however, that Vernon is sociably disposed, and the authorities here are not inclined to encourage meetings between the men and girl students. The head of his college is my brother-in-law, and one of your Dons is a very old friend, so I hear the question discussed from both sides, and then--like a wise woman--I gang my own gait! So long as men are men, and girls are girls, they are bound to attract each other; it's natural and right, and when they are bound to meet in any case, it is my little hobby to help them to do so under the best conditions. I flatter myself I am quite an expert in the art of being just chaperon enough, and not too chaperon, and I never refuse to act if I can possibly contrive to do so." "No! Dan said--" began Darsie involuntarily, and then stopped short with a furious blush. Mrs Reeves, however, did not share her discomfiture; she laughed, and said shrewdly--