The Indifference of Juliet

Anthony Robeson glanced about him in a satisfied way at the shaded nook under the low-hanging boughs into which he had guided the boat. Then he drew in his oars and let the little craft drift.

"This is an ideal spot," said he, looking into his friend's face, "in which to tell you a rather interesting piece of news."

"Oh, fine!" cried his friend, settling herself among the cushions in the stern and tilting back her parasol so that the light through its white expanse framed her health-tinted face in a sort of glory. "Tell me at once. I suspected you came with something on your mind. There couldn't be a lovelier place on the river than this for confidences. But I can guess yours. Tony, you've found 'her'!"

"And you'll be my friend just the same?" questioned Anthony anxiously. "My chum--my confidante?"

"Oh, well, Tony, that's absurd," declared Juliet Marcy severely. "As if she would allow it!"

"She's three thousand miles away."

"I'm ashamed of you!"

"Just in the interval, then," pleaded Anthony. "I need you now worse than ever. For I've a tremendous responsibility on my hands. The--the--you know--is to come off in September, and this is June--and I've a house to furnish. Will you help me do it, Juliet?"

"Anthony Robeson!" she said explosively under her breath, with a laugh. Then she sat up and leaned forward with a commanding gesture. "Tell me all about it. What is her name and who is she? Where did you meet her? Are you very much----"

"Would I marry a girl if I were not 'very much'?" demanded Anthony. "Well--I'll tell you--since you insist on these non-essentials before you really come down to business. Her name is Eleanor Langham, and she lives in San Francisco. Her family is old, aristocratic, wealthy--yet she condescends to me."

He looked up keenly into her eyes, and her brown lashes fell for an instant before something in his glance, but she said quickly: "Go on."

"When the--affair--is over I want to bring my bride straight home," Anthony proceeded, with a tinge of colour in his smooth, clear cheek. "I shall have no vacation to speak of at that time of year, and no time to spend in furnishing a house. Yet I want it all ready for her. So you see I need a friend. I shall have two weeks to spare in July, and if you would help me--"

"But, Tony," she interrupted, "how could I? If--if we were seen shopping together----"

"No, we couldn't go shopping together in New York without being liable to run into a wondering crowd of friends, of course--not in the places where you would want to go. But here you are only a couple of hours from Boston; you will be here all summer; you and Mrs. Dingley and I could run into Boston for a day at a time without anybody's being the wiser. I know--that is--I'm confident Mrs. Dingley would do it for me----"

"Oh, of course. Did Auntie ever deny you anything since the days when she used to give you jam as often as you came across to play with me?"

"Never."

"Have you her photograph?" inquired Miss Marcy with an emphasis which left no possible doubt as to whose photograph she meant.

"I expected that," said Anthony gravely. "I expected it even sooner. But I am prepared."

She sat watching him curiously as he slowly drew from his breast-pocket a tiny leather case, and gazed at it precisely as a lover might be expected to gaze at his lady's image before jealously surrendering it into other hands. She had never seen Anthony Robeson look at any photograph except her own with just that expression. She had often wondered if he ever would. She had recommended this course of procedure to him many times, usually after once more gently refusing to marry him. She had begun at last to doubt whether it would ever be possible to divert Tony's mind from its long-sought object. But that trip to San Francisco, and the months he had spent there in the interests of the firm he served, had evidently brought about the desired change. She had not seen him since his return until to-day, when he had run up into the country where was the Marcy summer home, to tell her, as she now understood, his news and to make his somewhat extraordinary request.