"I cannot resist such an appeal as that, Mr. Clifford," she said, laughingly. "This is perfectly splendid!" cried Amy. "I anticipate a marvellous day to-morrow. Bring Fred also, and let us all vie with each other in encouraging Webb." "Has that quiet Webb any scheme in his mind?" Miss Hargrove thought, after they had gone. "I wish that tomorrow might indeed be 'a marvellous day' for us all." "_Can_ I do without her?" was poor Burt's query. An affirmative answer was slow in coming, though he thought long and late. CHAPTER LI WEBB'S FATEFUL EXPEDITION Mr. Hargrove had welcomed the invitation that took his daughter among some of her former companions, hoping that a return to brilliant fashionable life would prove to her that she could not give it up. It was his wish that she should marry a wealthy man of the city. His wife did not dream of any other future for her handsome child, and she looked forward with no little complacency to the ordering of a new and elegant establishment. At the dinner-table Gertrude had given a vivacious account of her yachting experience, and all had appeared to promise well; but when she went to the library to kiss her father good-night, he looked at her inquiringly, and said, "You enjoyed every moment, I suppose?" She shook her head sadly, and, after a moment, said: "I fear I've grown rather tired of that kind of thing. We made much effort to enjoy ourselves. Is there not a happiness which comes without so much effort?" "I'm sorry," he said, simply. "Perhaps you need not be. Suppose I find more pleasure in staying with you than in rushing around?" "That would not last. That is contrary to nature." "I think it would be less contrary to _my_ nature than forced gayety among people I care nothing about." He smiled at her fondly, but admitted to himself that absence had confirmed the impressions of the summer, instead of dissipating them, and that if Burt became her suitor he would be accepted. When she looked out on the morning of the excursion to Fort Putnam it was so radiant with light and beauty that hope sprang up within her heart. Disappointment that might last through life could not come on a day like this. Silvery mists ascended from the river down among the Highlands. The lawn and many of the fields were as green as they had been in June, and on every side were trees like immense bouquets, so rich and varied was their coloring. There was a dewy freshness in the air, a genial warmth in the sunshine, a spring-like blue in the sky; and in these was no suggestion that the November of her life was near. "And yet it may be," she thought. "I must soon face my fate, and I must be true to Amy."