nice!" he said.

Then, perceiving her as a part of the picture, he added:

"And you're the nicest thing about it."

At this frontal attack, Kate waited to see whether it meant further
attack, skirmish, or retreat. His general softness of expression,
showed that it meant attack.

Bertram, in fact, was in the mood for attack on rose citadels. A year
of life on twelve dollars a week--cheap, crowded lodgings, meals at
the Hotel Marseillaise, the landlady's daughter and those of her kind
for companionship--and now, in a week, the refinements of the Tiffany
house, the refinement plus entertainment of the Masters villa, and
these two lovely, fragrant women. It seemed all to roll up in him as
he sat there, the woods about him and this golden creature at his
side; and it found half-unconscious expression on his lips.

"I'm going to be rich some day," he said.

"I hope so."

"I am, sure. When I get rich I'm going to have a place like this--I'll
have a long pull by that time and be able to invite anybody I
want--this is the only way to live." His voice fell away.

Then he looked up and bent upon her that smile.

"It's great to have a girl like you to confide in," he said.

"Thank you; but you haven't confided much as yet," responded Kate.

"I don't suppose there is a whole lot to confide. At least, things
you'd want to tell a girl like you. Only one thing. I'm in love!"

The arrest of all motion in Kate which followed this declaration was
like one of those sudden calms which fall over a field at the approach
of evening. It descended upon her in the mid-course of a gesture; it
wrapped her about in such a stillness that neither breath nor blood
stirred. Then, though only her lips moved, her vocal cords responded
to her will.

"And she is to be mistress of the villa when you get rich?"

"If she'll take me," said Bertram. "You see, it is a brand new case.
I've just got it--just realized it. She's up and I'm still down, so it
wouldn't be square to say anything about it, now would it?"

"No," answered Kate softly, "though we women like bold lovers too."

"Yes, that's so. And I suppose if I keep too still about it, somebody
else will come riding onto the ranch and carry her off. It's my game,
I guess, to stay around and watch. And if I find any gazebo getting
too thick with her, then up speaks little Bertie for the word that
makes her his.

"If she'll have me," he added. "But she's a good many pegs above me
just now