When the curtain went down a second time, Craig rose and, shaking hands again with the “duffers” and the girl, left them, and a few moments later appeared at the entrance of the box where the Marshes were sitting. Instantly there was a flutter of excitement among the ladies, who had failed to see him in the opposite box. Amy, who had her own views with regard to him and did not think his lameness a very great drawback when pitted against his millions and position, was delighted to meet him, and asked where he had kept himself that they had seen so little of him recently. “I have been in the country, where mother and Rose stayed later than usual,—it is so delightful there when the leaves begin to change,” he replied, adding: “We only came to town yesterday, and to-morrow morning we are off for Europe on the _Etruria_, which sails so early that we must be on board to-night. How long we shall stay abroad is uncertain. It will depend on mother’s health. We go for her. And now I must say good-by, as I have other calls to make.” He turned to go, when Alex. detained him a moment. “Who were the people you were with just now,—the old couple and the girl?” Amy and Ruth were both talking to Craig, who answered, hurriedly and very low: “Why, don’t you know Joel Pledger and his wife? I thought everybody knew him. The girl is their grand-niece, come to see the city for a few days;—beautiful, isn’t she?—and now I really must go. Good-by again.” He was gone, and Alex. sat down, disappointed and annoyed that he had learned so little. Craig had said Joel Pledger, but Alex. understood him _Old_ Pledger, and he repeated to himself “Old Pledger! as if that would tell me who he is, or as if I cared. It’s the girl whose name I want. Why couldn’t he have told it instead of saying their grand-niece from the country and that she was beautiful? Of course she is. Anybody can see that. Old Pledger! That’s a good name for him; I don’t believe though, that the girl is a Pledger. The name don’t suit her. I wonder how I can find out who she is, and why need Craig have been in such an awful hurry. Old Pledger! That don’t sound as if he thought a great deal of him. Well, he’s only her great-uncle.”