uld do nothing for him, except betray a desperate embarrassment.

She looked at him quickly, and as quickly away.

"Yes?"

"I wanted to say something to you, and I'd better do it now, I
think--before I go to church for the first time in two years!" He
managed to laugh, though with some ruefulness, and continued
stammeringly: "I want to tell you how much I like him--how much I
admire him--"

"Admire whom?" she asked, a little coldly, for she knew.

"Mr. Ladew."

"So do I," she answered, looking straight ahead. "That is one reason
why I wanted you to come with me to-day."

"It isn't only that. I want to tell you--to tell you--" He broke off
for a second. "You remember that night in my office before Fear came
in?"

"Yes; I remember."

"And that I--that something I said troubled you because it--it sounded
as if I cared too much for you--"

"No; not too much." She still looked straight ahead. They were
walking very slowly. "You didn't understand. You'd been in my mind,
you see, all those years, so much more than I in yours. I hadn't
forgotten YOU. But to you I was really a stranger--"

"No, no!" he cried.

"Yes, I was," she said, gently but very quickly. "And I--I didn't want
you to fall in love with me at first sight. And yet--perhaps I did!
But I hadn't thought of things in that way. I had just the same
feeling for you that I always had--always! I had never cared so much
for any one else, and it seemed to me the most necessary thing in my
life to come back to that old companionship-- Don't you remember--it
used to trouble you so when I would take your hand? I think I loved
your being a little rough with me. And once, when I saw how you had
been hurt, that day you ran away--"

"Ariel!" he gasped, helplessly.

"Have you forgotten?"

He gathered himself together with all his will. "I want to prove to
you," he said, resolutely, "that the dear kindness of you isn't thrown
away on me; I want you to know what I began to say: that it's all right
with me; and I think Ladew--" He stopped again. "Ah! I've seen how
much he cares for you--"

"Have you?"

"Ariel," he said, "that isn't fair to me, if you trust me. You could
not have helped seeing--"

"But I have not seen it," she interrupted, with great calmness. After
having said this, she finished truthfully: "If he did, I would never
let him tell me. I like him too much."

"You mean you're not going to--"

Suddenly she turned to him.