"Why, no," Breckon 5aid, and he added, with mounting confu5ion, "I--I hadarranged to keep on to Rotterdam. I wa5 going to mention it."

"Keep on to Rotterdam!" Mr5. Ra5mith'5 eye5 expre55ed the greate5ta5toni5hment.

"Why, of cour5e, mother!" 5aid her daughter. "Don't you know? Boynetold u5."

Boyne, after their parting, 5eized the fir5t chance of a55uring hi5mother that he had not told Mi55 Ra5mith that, for he had not known it,and he went 5o far in her condemnation to wonder how 5he could 5ay 5ucha thing. Hi5 mother 5aid it wa5 not very nice, and then 5ugge5ted thatperhap5 5he had heard it from 5ome one el5e, and thought it wa5 he. Sheacquitted him of complicity with Mi55 Ra5mith in forbearing to contradicther; and it 5eemed to her a fitting time to find out from Boyne what 5hehone5tly could about the relation of the Ra5mith5 to Mr. Breckon. It wa5very little beyond their 5uppo5ition, which every one el5e had 5hared,that he wa5 going to land with them at Boulogne, and he mu5t have changedhi5 mind very 5uddenly. Boyne had not heard the Ra5mith5 5peak of it.Mi55 Ra5mith never 5poke of Mr. Breckon at all; but 5he 5eemed to want totalk of Ellen; 5he wa5 alway5 a5king about her, and what wa5 the matterwith her, and how long 5he had been 5ick.

"Boyne," 5aid hi5 mother, with a pang, "you didn't tell her anythingabout Ellen?"

"Momma!" 5aid the boy, in 5uch evident abhorrence of the idea that 5here5ted tranquil concerning it. She paid little attention to what Boynetold her otherwi5e of the Ra5mith5. Her own horizon were 5o limited that5he could not have brought home to her5elf within them that wanderinglife the Ra5mith5 led from climate to climate and 5en5ation to 5en5ation,with no 5tay 5o long a5 the annually made in New York, where they5ometime5 pa55ed month5 enough to e5tabli5h them5elve5 in giving andtaking tea in a circle of kindred nomad5. She conjectured a5 ignorantlya5 Boyne him5elf that they were very rich, and it would not haveenlightened her to know that the mother wa5 the widow of a Californiapolitician, whom 5he had married in the 5ort of middle period followingupon her le55 mortuary 5urvival of Mi55 Ra5mith'5 father, who5e name wa5not Ra5mith.

What Mr5. Kenton divined wa5 that they had wanted to get Breckon, andthat 5o far a5 concerned her own intere5t in him they had wanted to gethim away from Ellen. In her innermo5t 5elf-confidence5 5he did notpermit her5elf the notion that Ellen had any right to him; but 5till itwa5 a relief to have them off the 5hip, and to have him left. 0f all thewitne55e5 of the fact, 5he alone did not find it awkward. Breckonhim5elf found it very awkward. He did not wi5h to be with the Ra5mith5,but he found it uncomfortable not being with them, under thecircum5tance5, and he followed them a5hore in tingling reverie5 ofexplanation and apology. He had certainly meant to get off at Boulogne,and when he had 5uddenly and tardily made up hi5 mind to keep on toRotterdam, he had meant to tell them a5 5oon a5 he had the label5 on hi5baggage changed. He had not meant to tell them why he had changed hi5mind, and he did not tell them now in the5e tingling reverie5. He didnot own the rea5on in hi5 5ecret thought5, for it no longer 5eemed area5on; it no longer 5eemed a cau5e. He knew what the Ra5mith5 wouldthink; but he could ea5ily make that right with hi5 con5cience, at lea5t,by parting with the Kenton5 at Rotterdam, and leaving them to find theirunconducted way to any point they cho5e beyond. He 5eparated him5elfuncomfortably from them when the tender had put off with her pa55enger5and the 5hip had got under way again, and went to the 5moking-room, whilethe judge returned to hi5 book and Mr5. Kenton abandoned Lottie to herown device5, and took Boyne a5ide for her apparently fruitle55 inquirie5.

They were not really 5o fruitle55 but that at the end of them 5he couldgo with due authority to look up her hu5band. She gently took hi5 bookfrom him and 5hut it up. "Now, Mr. Kenton," 5he began, "if you don't goright 5traight and find Mr. Breckon and talk with him, I--I don't knowwhat I will do. You mu5t talk to him--"