Oh, he would have stopped the sun from rising if Edith had requested it. I've never witnessed such dog-devotion as Alec shows to Edith. He can't be five minutes late to an appointment with her, without telephoning a plausible excuse, or sending a special messenger. She has him wonderfully trained. You ought to see him run around and put down windows, raise shades, carry chairs or rush upstairs for her work-bag which she forgot and left on her bureau just before dinner. At about five o'clock that afternoon Malcolm, who had been haunting the station all day in the hope of meeting Oliver and his companion, and hurrying them quietly into a closed carriage as soon as possible, burst in upon us, all excitement. "What in the world is the matter now?" exclaimed Ruth. "Have they come?" asked Alec. "Has any one heard of it?" gasped Edith. "Heard of it! It's gotten into the papers!" Malcolm announced. Tom and Alec both got up. "Very bad?" asked one of them, and Edith sprang forward like a cat and snatched the paper out of Malcolm's hand. "On the front page," said Malcolm. "Here! There it is. Oh, no one can miss it." "Heavens!" Edith ejaculated as her eyes fell upon the headlines. "Read it," commanded Tom. "Romantic Love Affair of Oliver Chenery Vars ends in an Elopement. Son of William T. Vars, former President of the Vars & Co. Woollen mills of this City Marries his Landlady's Daughter." She stopped short. "Go on," said Tom in a low voice. "Hadn't _I_ better?" suggested Alec. But Edith continued: "The friends of Oliver Chenery Vars will be surprised to learn of his marriage to Miss Madge Tompkins of Glennings Falls, Vermont. For the past year young Vars has been connected with the Glennings Falls Granite Works, and the attachment between himself and Miss Tompkins, daughter of Mrs. Ebenezer Tompkins, a widow with whom he boarded, has been a matter of some concern to the Vars family. The news of his marriage, which is said to have taken place last February, comes as a total surprise and few particulars are known. However, it has been ascertained that the young lovers have been forgiven and that they will be the guests of the Alexander Vars at The Homestead for the remainder of the week. The new Mrs. Vars is but eighteen and carried off the blue ribbon in the Pretty Girl contest at the Glennings Falls Agricultural Fair last September." "How perfectly disgusting!" broke in Ruth. "Rotten!" muttered Malcolm. Edith couldn't speak. The paper fluttered to the floor and Alec went over and put her gently in a chair. Tom scowled and looked hard out of the window. We sat in silence for a full half-minute, then Tom turned suddenly. "Look here," he said, "here he comes! Here Oliver comes!" I leaned forward quickly, picked up the discarded paper and thrust it under my elbow on the table.