He had sent another note and another present elsewhere. Was there another picture, which some one else had been gracefully urged to wear, for the sake of hers devotedly? It was more than probable! “I half believe I begin to understand him,” she said to herself, indignantly. “It is one of his sage and correct opinions that a man should marry, but all the same a man wants his little diversions. Under these circumstances he had better marry an amiable, easy-going young thing, who is healthy and cheerful, who knows nothing of the world, and who will leave him to pursue his little diversions undisturbed. It is perfectly humiliating! I will return his locket, for the very sight of it would always sting me.” CHAPTER XVII. Mr. Somers came promptly at eleven, the next morning, and Margaret received him in the drawing-room alone. She had given orders that she should be denied to any early visitors who might be coming in, and was resolved that she would be just and patient with the young man, though she was also resolved that the nature of their relationship should be definitely settled and understood, during this interview. They had not been seated long when Margaret heard Louis Gaston’s voice speaking to a servant in the hall. She looked up in surprise, as she had supposed him to be at his office an hour ago. He came in, with his overcoat on, and his hat in his hand, and when Margaret presented him to Mr. Somers he cordially offered him his disengaged hand. Margaret was struck with the contrast between the two general exteriors, as she had been the night before, but she was not a whit ashamed of her old friend. She told herself that no man with eyes in his head could fail to see that Somers was a gentleman, and, for the rest, it did not matter. “I learned from my sister-in-law,” said Louis, addressing Mr. Somers, “that Miss Trevennon was receiving a visit from a friend from home; and Mrs. Gaston has authorized me to come and engage you for dinner to-day, if you have no other appointment. I hope you will be able to come.” Margaret, glancing at Mr. Somers, was distressed to see that he looked decidedly ungracious. She saw, by his manner, that he suspected that this smooth-spoken Yankee was going to patronize him, though nothing could have been franker and less patronizing than Gaston’s whole bearing. “Thank you,” Mr. Somers answered, rather curtly, “I have another engagement.” Louis expressed the hope that he would give them another day while he was in Washington, and asked for his address, saying that he would call upon him.