n of Aunt Tiny's brother?"

"_Aunt Tiny_!"

As she laughed he saw again the ravishing dimple and her even, white
teeth.

"Oh, she isn't my real aunt," she explained. "I just call her that
because I am so fond of her. I adore both her and Willie."

"Who is takin' my name in vain?" called a cheery voice, as the little
inventor rounded the corner of the shed and entered the room.
"Delight--as I live! I might 'a' known it was you. Well, well, dear
child, if I'm not glad to see you."

He placed his hands on her shoulders and beamed into her blushing face
while she bent and spread the loops of his soft tie out beneath his
chin.

"How nice of you, Willie dear, to come back before I had gone!" she
said, arranging the bow with exaggerated care.

"Bless your heart, I'd 'a' come back sooner had I known you were here,"
declared he affectionately. "What brings you, little lady?"

She pointed to the trinket dangling from Robert Morton's grasp.

"I snapped the clasp of my belt buckle, Willie--that lovely silver
buckle Zenas Henry gave me," she confessed with contrition. "How do
you suppose I could have been so careless? I have been heart-broken
ever since."

"Nonsense! Nonsense!" cried the old man, patting her hand. "Don't go
grievin' over a little thing like that. 'Tain't worth it. Break all
the buckles ever was made, but not your precious heart, my dear. Like
as not the thing can be mended."

"Mr. Morton says it can."

"If Bob says so, it's as good as done already," replied Willie
reassuringly. "He's a great one with tools. Why, if he was to stay in
Wilton, he'd be cuttin' me all out. So you an' he have been gettin'
acquainted, eh, while I was gone? That's right. I want he should know
what nice folks we've got in Wilton 'cause it's his first visit to the
Cape, an' if he don't like us mebbe he'll never come again."

"I thought Mr. Morton had visited other places on Cape Cod," observed
Delight, darting a mischievous glance at the abashed young man opposite.

"No, indeed!" blundered Willie. "He ain't been nowheres. Somebody's
got to show him all the sights. Mebbe if you get time you'll take a
hand in helpin' educate him."

"I should be glad to!"

Notwithstanding the prim response and her unsmiling lips, the young man
had a discomfited presentiment that she was laughing at him, and even
the farewell she flashed to him over her shoulder had a hectoring
quality in it that did not altogether restore