Craige's handsome face, alight with eagerness, altered. "I will keep my word--" he said. "One month, Cecelia, and then the whole world is to know of my happiness--" "Our happiness--" she corrected softly. Craige caught her hands and pressed the palms against his face before kissing them with lingering tenderness. "_A la bonne heure!_" he exclaimed, and his voice betrayed his happiness. "Cecelia, you grow prettier every day." "My mirror is not so kind as you, Charles!" A sigh accompanied the words, and she swiftly changed the subject. "Have you seen Kitty Baird to-day?" "I am on my way there now." A worried look crossed his face. "That poor girl seems fated for tragedy. You heard of the attempt to kill Ted Rodgers last night in the Park, did you not?" "I understood that it was an accident." Horror crept into Mrs. Parsons' eyes. "How dreadful!" "Kitty declares that the headlights of the car blinded her, and that she has no idea of the identity of the person who did the shooting. She says that she could not even tell whether it was a man or a woman." Craige, sitting facing the light from the western window, failed to detect the faint alteration in Mrs. Parsons' expression. "How is Ted Rodgers?" she asked. "Out of danger?" "I haven't heard; which reminds me that I am to meet Dr. McLean at 'Rose Hill' at three o'clock." Craige rose. "I sincerely hope that Ted recovers--it will kill Kitty if anything happens to him." Mrs. Parsons held out her hands and Craige helped her slowly to her feet. "So Ted really has cut out Leigh Wallace in Kitty's affections," she remarked. Craige frowned. "It was nothing more than a flirtation between Kitty and Wallace," he declared. "Her whole heart is centered on Ted." "You speak with positiveness--" Mrs. Parsons' laugh held a touch of malice. "Remember, women are fickle--and Leigh very attractive." "I fail to understand the fascination he apparently has for women." Craige's tone was stiff. A mischievous smile touched Mrs. Parsons' lips and her eyes danced. "Leigh was very, very smitten with Kitty," she asserted, as she paused before the long gilt mirror and adjusted her lorgnette chain. "Do you suppose it could have been Leigh who tried to kill Ted last night?" Craige stood just behind her and looking in the mirror she saw his face reflected over her shoulder. His expression of surprise gave place to doubt--to wonder-- "By Jove!" he exclaimed. "No, it can't be, Cecelia. Leigh, whatever his faults, is the type of man who fights in the open." "Jealousy changes a man's nature sometimes," she murmured. "Leigh has not been himself since his return from France." "You knew him before, then?" Mrs. Parsons nodded. "Very slightly. It was Nina Potter who commented upon the change in him; he was an old sweetheart of hers." Craige paused. "Upon my word, Cecelia," he ejaculated. "How do you learn so much about people?"