"No. I think not." Marlitt perceived that the note was an agreeable incident. "She says she is the daughter of Wilbur, the Philadelphia steel man. It's odd that they should not have forgotten me." "Begging your pardon, sir, I think if you were not so determined to deny yourself to friends, you would find that no one who had once known you would have forgotten." The sick man glanced back at the note in his lap. It escaped him on the slippery silk and he made an involuntary effort with the useless arm to recover it. He frowned, and Marlitt, stooping quickly, picked up the sheet and restored it. The invalid read the letter once again. "Send word to this young lady that I will see her at three-thirty to-day," he said at last. With much rejoicing, Diana, when she had received this word, arrayed herself for the call. She wore a thin gray gown with a rose at the girdle, and Mrs. Lowell, regarding her with admiration, thought no one could be better equipped externally to win the fastidious masculine heart. Herbert Loring thought so, too, when at the appointed hour she entered his room, and he received a swift impression of her fine quality. "Welcome, my little cousin," he said as he met her eyes and the serene and charming smile irradiating her youthful beauty. "I am a useless hulk; can't get out of this chair without help. So you will pardon me." She put her hand in the one he offered, and Marlitt placed a chair beside him in such fashion that she faced him. "That makes it the more gracious of you to receive me," she replied. "I should never have known what I missed, had I refused," he said gallantly. "My friend Wilbur has a very beautiful daughter." Marlitt disappeared into the next room, and Diana blushed. "Even in spite of sunburn?" she said. "I was really touched, Cousin Diana, that your parents should remember me sufficiently for you to take the trouble to come to see me. It is a long time since anything has pleased me so much. I have been such a rover that I am a stranger in my own land." Diana had not expected to feel guilty of false pretences, but this speech accused her even while it lent her increased courage, since his was a heart that could be touched. "I hope you will visit us," she said, "after I return to Newport." "Are you on your way there now?" "No, not quite yet. It is difficult to tear one's self away from Casco Bay after one once falls under the spell." Loring nodded. "I know the environment. Very piney and fresh and all that. Cold water though, very cold." "Yes, but we all take dips in it." "Youth!" said the sick man, shaking his head. "Youth!"