One night in midsummer when I was just dropping off to sleep, Edith knocked gently on my door, and then opened it and came in. She was all ready for bed with her hair braided down her back. "Asleep?" "No," I replied. "What's the matter?" "Did you know Grassmere was open?" "Why?" I demanded. "Because, just as I was fixing the curtain in my room I happened to look up there. It's all lit up, upstairs and down. Even the ball-room. Did you know about it?" I had to confess that I didn't. Breck had told me that his mother would remain in the rented palace at Newport for the remainder of the season, under the care of a specialist. "Looks as if they were having a big affair of some sort up there. I guess Mrs. F. Rockridge has recovered from her nervous break-down! Come, get up and see." "Oh, I'll take your word for it," I replied indifferently. But I won't say what my next act was after Edith had gone out of the room. You may be sure I didn't immediately drop off to sleep. I looked for one of Breck's ill-penned letters the next morning, but none came. No wire or telephone message either. Not until five o'clock in the afternoon did I receive any explanation of the lights at Grassmere. Edith had been to her bridge club, and came rushing up on the veranda, eager and excited. There were little bright spots in the center of each cheek. Edith's a handsome woman, thirty-five or eight, I think, and very smart in appearance. She has dark brilliant eyes, and a quality in her voice and manner that makes you feel as if there were about eight cylinders and all in perfect order, too, chugging away underneath her shiny exterior. "Where's the mail?" she asked of me. I was lying on the wicker couch. "Oh, inside, I guess, on the hall table. I don't know. Why?" "Wait a minute," she said, and disappeared. She rejoined me an instant later, with two circulars and a printed post-card. "Is this all there is?" Edith demanded again, and I could see the red spots on her cheeks grow deeper. "That's all," I assured her. "Expecting something?" "Have you had any trouble with Breck?" she flashed out at me next. "What are you driving at, Edith?" I inquired. "What's the matter?" "Mrs. Sewall is giving a perfectly enormous ball at Grassmere on the twenty-fourth, and we're left out. That's the matter!" She tossed the mail on the table. "Oh," I said, "our invitations will come in the morning probably. There are often delays."