"Oh! he is so deaf!" she murmured, half turning to me, though I was not quite sure that she was not speaking to herself. The next second she settled the question. "He is so distressingly deaf," she repeated in an undertone, with the faintest accent of appeal for sympathy in her voice. I again recognized the flag of truce. But I replied calmly: "I passed by his garden and marked with one eye How the owl and the panther were sharing a pie. The panther took pie-crust and gravy and meat, While the owl had the dish as its share of the treat." The color mantled in her cheek and she raised her head slightly. "Are you going to keep that up? I suppose we shall have to talk a little. I think we are attracting attention. For Heaven's sake, don't speak so loud! We are being observed." But I continued: "When the pie was all finished, the owl, as a boon, Was kindly permitted to pocket the spoon." "It is very rude of you to go on in that way when I am speaking. You remind me of a machine," she smiled. "Here am I stuck between two men, one of whom cannot hear a word I say, while the other does nothing but run on like a machine." I observed, with deep content, that she was becoming exasperated. At that moment the hostess leant forward and said: "What are you two so interested in discussing there? I have been watching, and you have not stopped a minute." Eleanor Leigh burst into a laugh. "Mr. Glave is talking Arabic to me." "Arabic!" exclaimed the hostess. "Mr. Glave, you have been in the East, have you?" "Yes, he came from the East where the wise men always come from," said Miss Leigh. Then turning to me she said in an undertone, "You see what I told you." For reply, I simply quoted on, though I had a little pang as I saw the shadow come into her eyes and the smile leave her mouth. "My father was deaf, And my mother was dumb, And to keep myself company, I beat the drum." "I think that was a very good occupation for you," she said, turning away, with her head very high. "Will you let me say something to you?" she said in a low tone a moment later, and, without waiting, she added: "I think it was rather nasty in me to say what I said to you when you first came in, but you had treated me so rudely when I spoke to you on the street." "You do not call it rude not to answer a letter when a gentleman writes to explain an unfortunate mistake, and then cut him publicly?" "I did not receive it until afterward," she said. "I was away from town, and as to cutting you--I don't know what you are talking about." "At the Charity Fair." "I never saw you. I wondered you were not there." Had the earth opened, I could not have felt more astounded, and had it opened near me I should possibly have sprung in in my confusion. I had, as usual, simply made a fool of myself, and what to do I scarcely knew. At this instant the hostess arose, and the dinner was over and with it I feared my chance was over too.