And she sailed grandly down the splendid corridor between the potted palms and gleaming white statues, pausing once to adjust her false front with a view to the enslavement of Mr. Somerville’s heart. “If I could only ketch him, I needn’t go back to the poky country to scratch for a living!” she was thinking as she softly drew aside a fold of the rich portière and peeped in at the assembled company. What she saw after a brief scrutiny made her drop the curtain and start back in amazement, muttering: “Land sakes, if there ain’t Doctor Ludington an’ that there Dan Ellis that runned away arter that Hallowe’en trag’dy! Where did he fall from, and what on yearth is he doing of here? Is Mr. Somerville gwine to hire him for a chore boy? I didn’t know they had any cows to milk an’ pigs to feed up in New York. I s’pose Doc Ludington’s giving him a ricommend to the fambly! My, how uppish Pat looks, setting by Hamilton’s side! An’ sakes alive, there’s a West Virginny gal on the sofy by Eva, that Miss Winton, up to Weston. What’s she doing here, too? How solemn they all look, from Mr. Somerville an’ his grand sister, even down to Dan! Guess it’s a mighty dry company; no laffin’ and jokin’ yet. I better slip in an’ not say nothin’ to no one at first, for fear they run me out before I find out what they all come together for!” As every one seemed to be paying great attention to a remark of Doctor Ludington’s, she sidled in and sank down unperceived on the nearest chair, half hidden by a large jardiniere of flowers. “You all know the story of the tragedy in which Miss Somerville and myself figured so prominently,” he said. “Miss Groves has chosen to revive it in all its horror, but she has not been very accurate. She has left out one link in the chain.” Patty, who had been eyeing Dan all along with fear and trembling, now attempted to speak and utter a defiant denial, but the man by her side said to her sternly: “Hush! Wait till he tells his story!” Doctor Ludington continued: “Through a hideous practical joke that Miss Groves and her sister were too cowardly or too malicious to confess, the whole horrible complication came about, causing one man’s death, and wrecking the lives of others. Get up, Dan Ellis, and tell the company your part in that hideous Hallowe’en tragedy!” Dan shambled to his feet, looking almost manly in his eagerness to undo his mistake. He saw beautiful Eva looking at him with eager, hopeful eyes, and her glance encouraged him to speak out before the grand company. “’Twarn’t my fault; I never would a-done anythin’ to hurt you, little Eva,” he said, looking straight into her wondering eyes. “But Patty and Lydia, they said as how you was setting supper by your bed to try your fortin’, that your intended husbin’ would come an’ sup with you at midnight in a dream. Do you remember it, little Eva?”