The lawyer remained thoughtful for a moment. Then, lightly he said: "We ought to give Kenneth a rousing welcome home. After such experiences as he has had he richly deserves it." Eagerly Helen caught at the suggestion. "By all means!" she cried. "Suppose we give a dinner, followed by a dance." "Oh, lovely!" said Ray. "The night following his arrival," went on Helen enthusiastically. "We'll make it quite an affair and invite everyone we know--the Parkers, the Galloways, the Fentons, everybody----" "Don't forget me!" interrupted Steell. "Oh, you, of course!" Roguishly she added: "Aren't you one of the family?" He looked at her and smiled. In an undertone which Ray, too busy looking at the paper, did not hear, he added: "Not yet, but I hope to be." "The sooner the better, Wilbur," she said earnestly. With a significant glance at her sister she added, "Don't let her keep you waiting too long." Every hour brought nearer the happy day when they would see Kenneth again. A cablegram from England reported that the _Zanzibar_ had reached Southampton. Closely following this came a brief message from Kenneth himself, stating that he was on the point of sailing for New York on the _Adriatic_. In five more days he would be in New York. Expectation now reached fever heat, the excitement being communicated to everyone in the house. Every time the front door bell rang there was a rush downstairs in the hope that it might be another message. Ray, bubbling over with excitement, was almost as eager as her sister. "Won't it be jolly to go down to the dock and meet him?" Helen shook her head. "I won't go to meet him. I prefer to be here when he arrives." Anxiously she added: "I hope everything is all right." "Why shouldn't it be all right?" Her sister was silent. It seemed absurd, when everything seemed to point to her happiness, that she should still feel depressed and nervous, but, somehow, she could not shake off the feeling that something was wrong. It was certainly strange that no letter had been received from Kenneth since the accident. Yet perhaps it was wicked of her to expect more. She ought to be grateful that he had been spared. Almost unconsciously she remarked: "Isn't it strange that Ken hasn't written for so long? I haven't had a line from him since he left Cape Town." "Yes--you have," protested her sister. "You had a cablegram telling you of his safety." "A cablegram--yes, but no letter. I have had no letter since he left Cape Town." "That's true. But how could he write? He has been traveling faster than the mails." "I hope he's not hurt." "Of course not. You would have heard it before this. Bad news travels fast."