The reader will please imagine the dinner in question over, the three young ladies eagerly watching, up and down the street, through the slats of the closed Venetian blinds, while Mrs. Carter and myself, too dignified to manifest our curiosity so clearly, held ourselves in the rear as a sort of reserve. Laura, our little decoy, was trotting, meanwhile, from room to room, singing and babbling; having, in fact, entirely forgotten the Stranger and his promise. It had been decided in a council of war not to remind her of it till our man was seen approaching, when she was to be sent out in a casual way to intercept him. “Gracious, here he is!” exclaimed all three of the girls at once. “Where is Laura?” “Laura! Laura! Laura!” cried Alice, in a suppressed voice. “Mother! Mr. Whacker! somebody bring Laura, please.” It appears that the Unknown, instead of making his approach by way of Leigh Street, as we somehow expected, had suddenly turned into that thoroughfare from the cross-street. The girls from their position commanded a view of this cross-street for some distance, looking towards the south, as the Carters’ residence was but one remove from the corner. Strange to say, however, the gentleman emerged into Leigh Street from the north, as though returning from a walk in the country, and thus came upon the girls without warning. The reserves, forgetting their dignity, scampered off in their search for Laura. She, meanwhile, ignorant of her importance, was sitting in the back yard, building mounds upon a pile of sand that lay there, and before she could be found the stranger had passed. He turned and looked back several times, and when he reached the end of the block he stopped, and, turning, looked for some time in our direction. Meanwhile, I, having secured the little truant, was hurrying to the front, while Mrs. Carter, plump and jovial soul, was not far behind me. “Make haste! make haste!” cried Alice, who, with Mary, had in her impatience found her way into the hall. “Make haste, or he will be gone. Come, Laura, the gentleman with the candy is out there. There, quick!” she added, with a little push; and Laura trotted out with pleased alacrity. “Too late!” sighed Lucy from behind the shutters, where she had been placed for purposes of safe observation. “Too late! he has moved on.” CHAPTER V. That evening, as I bade the family good-night, after with some difficulty escaping from Mrs. Carter’s urgent invitation to dine with them again next day, I agreed to call immediately after dinner, so as to be on hand should the Stranger, as we thought likely, return in search of Laura. Nor were we disappointed; and this time, warned by the failure of the preceding day, we had kept Laura well in hand; so that she was ready on the front steps as he was passing. The two friends smiled as their eyes met.