He thought she gave a slight start, but immediately she turned upon him with one of the brilliant smiles. "We have had time to grow since then," she said,--"not older, of course, but infinitely wiser--and better." He did not find it easy to comprehend very clearly either her smile or her manner. He felt that there might be something hidden behind both, though certainly nothing could have been brighter or more inconsequent than her tone. He did not smile, but regarded her for a moment with a look of steady interest, of which he was scarcely conscious. She bore it for an instant, and then turned her eyes carelessly aside, with a laugh. "I do not think you are changed at all," she said. "Why?" he asked, still watching her, and trying to adjust himself to her words. "You looked at me then," she said, "just as you used to when you were with us before, and I said something frivolous. I am afraid I was often frivolous in those days. I confess I suspected myself of it, and one day I even made a resolution"-- She did start then--as if some memory had suddenly returned to her. She lifted her bouquet to her face and let it slowly drop upon her knee again as she turned and looked at him. "I remember now," she said, "that I made that resolution the day you brought me the heliotrope." And now it seemed for the instant to be her turn to regard him with interest. "I don't know what the resolution was," he said, rather grimly, "but I hope it was a good one. Did you keep it?" "No," she answered, undisturbedly; "but I kept the heliotrope. You know I said I would. It is laid away in one of my bureau drawers." "And the first party?" he asked. "Was it a success?" "Oh, yes," she replied, "it was a great success. I am happy to say that all my parties are successes, inasmuch as I enjoy them." "Is this a success?" he inquired. She raised her bouquet to her face again and glanced over it at the crowded room. "It is an immense success," she said. "Such things always are--in Washington. Do you see that little woman on the sofa? Notice what bright eyes she has, and how quickly they move from one person to another--like a bird's. She is 'our Washington correspondent' for half-a-dozen Western papers, and 'does the social column' in one of our principal dailies, and to-morrow you will read in it that 'one of the most brilliant receptions of the season was held last night at the charming home of Mrs. Winter Gardner, on K street.' You will also learn that 'Mrs. Richard Amory was lovely in white brocade and pearls,' and that 'noticeable among even the stateliest masculine forms was the imposing figure of Colonel Tredennis, the hero of Indian adventure and'"-- She had been speaking in the quietest possible manner, looking at the scene before her and not at him; but here she stopped and bent toward him a little. "Have you," she said, softly, "such a thing as a scalp about you?"