“I see you haven’t changed an iota in a quarter of a century, Rachel.”  This was intended to be another jest.  “Ask ahead:  everything but my domestic affairs is at your service.”

“Try to be serious,” I said.  “And tell me this:  has your firm made any plans for a house recently, for a Doctor Walker, at Casanova?”

“Yes, we have.”

“Where was it to be built?  I have a reason for asking.”

“It was to be, I believe, on the Armstrong place.  Mr. Armstrong himself consulted me, and the inference was—­in fact, I am quite certain—­the house was to be occupied by Mr. Armstrong’s daughter, who was engaged to marry Doctor Walker.”

When the architect had inquired for the different members of my family, and had finally rung off, I was certain of one thing.  Louise Armstrong was in love with Halsey, and the man she was going to marry was Doctor Walker.  Moreover, this decision was not new; marriage had been contemplated for some time.  There must certainly be some explanation—­but what was it?

That day I repeated to Louise the telegram Mr. Warton had opened.

She seemed to understand, but an unhappier face I have never seen.  She looked like a criminal whose reprieve is over, and the day of execution approaching.

CHAPTER XV

LIDDY GIVES THE ALARM

The next day, Friday, Gertrude broke the news of her stepfather’s death to Louise.  She did it as gently as she could, telling her first that he was very ill, and finally that he was dead.  Louise received the news in the most unexpected manner, and when Gertrude came out to tell me how she had stood it, I think she was almost shocked.

“She just lay and stared at me, Aunt Ray,” she said.  “Do you know, I believe she is glad, glad!  And she is too honest to pretend anything else.  What sort of man was Mr. Paul Armstrong, anyhow?”

“He was a bully as well as a rascal, Gertrude,” I said.  “But I am convinced of one thing; Louise will send for Halsey now, and they will make it all up.”

For Louise had steadily refused to see Halsey all that day, and the boy was frantic.

We had a quiet hour, Halsey and I, that evening, and I told him several things; about the request that we give up the lease to Sunnyside, about the telegram to Louise, about the rumors of an approaching marriage between the girl and Doctor Walker, and, last of all, my own interview with her the day before.

He sat back in a big chair, with his face in the shadow, and my heart fairly ached for him.  He was so big and so boyish!  When I had finished he drew a long breath.

“Whatever Louise does,” he said, “nothing will convince me, Aunt Ray, that she doesn’t care for me.  And up to two months ago, when she and her mother went west, I was the happiest fellow on earth.  Then something made a difference:  she wrote me that her people were opposed to the marriage; that her feeling for me was what it had always been, but that something had happened which had changed her ideas as to the future.  I was not to write until she wrote me, and whatever occurred, I was to think the best I could of her.  It sounded like a puzzle.  When I saw her yesterday, it was the same thing, only, perhaps, worse.”