"Maybe some new girl will come tomorrow," said Silvia, "or there's that trim little waitress who is waiting her way through college. He gave her a good big tip yesterday. I think I will give him a hint." "It wouldn't help any. He wouldn't know how to play such a game if you could persuade him to try. He'd probably tell the girl his motive in being attentive to her and then she'd back out. Maybe, after all, Beth doesn't love him." "I think she does," replied my wife, "because she is getting absent-minded. She let Diogenes go too near the fire. His shoes are burned, his hair singed, and his dress scorched. He woke up when I came in and he was so cross. He acted just the way he does when he is with his brothers." CHAPTER XIII _Rob's Friend the Reporter_ Silvia's vague prophecy was fulfilled. When the event of the day, the arrival of the stage, occurred, a solitary passenger alighted, a slim, alert, city-cut young woman. She looked us all over--not boldly, but with a business-like directness as if she were taking inventory of stock, or acting as judge at a competition. When her blue eyes lighted on Rob, they darkened with pleasure. "Oh, Mr. Rossiter!" she exclaimed, "this is better than I hoped for." They shook hands with the air of being old acquaintances, and he introduced her to us as "Miss Frayne, from my home town." She went into the office, registered, and sent her bag to her room. Then she asked Rob if she might have a talk with him. They walked away together down to the shore and she was talking to him quite excitedly. Rob suddenly stopped, threw back his head and laughed in the way that it is good to hear a man laugh. "Miss Frayne must be a wit," observed Beth dryly. I looked at her keenly. Something in her eyes as she gazed after the retreating couple told me that Silvia's surmise was right, and that Miss Frayne might be just the little punch needed to send Beth over the danger point. "I rather incline to the belief that Ptolemy told the truth in the first place," she continued, and then looked disappointed because I did not contradict her. I decided not to reveal, for the present anyway, what I knew of Miss Frayne, of whom I had often heard Rob speak. "She can't be going to stay long," said Silvia hopefully. "She didn't bring a trunk." "She doesn't need one," replied Beth. "She is probably one of those mannish girls who believe in a skirt and a few waists for a wardrobe." When Rob and the newcomer returned, he seemed to be monopolizing the conversation in a very emphatic and earnest manner. As they came up the steps to the veranda, we heard her say: "Very well, Mr. Rossiter, I will do just as you say. I have perfect confidence in your judgment." They passed on into the hotel and Beth jumped up and went down toward the lake. "Did you ever hear Rob speak of this Miss Frayne?" asked Silvia. "Often. She is engaged to his cousin, and is a reporter on a big newspaper."