and in the end she submitted with a charming grace that was
torture to the doctor.

Everybody seemed in fine spirits, but on the part of two or three
members of the company we have reason to suppose that it was _only_
seeming. And perhaps a little general knowledge of the affairs of
mankind might justify us in the suspicion that there were others not so
happy as their bright looks seemed to warrant. But, however that might
be, every one threw in his or her contribution to the pleasure and
amusement of the day. The doctor helped to lay out a croquet-ground and
fixed the target for archery-practice; Hugh was active in putting up
swings; some of the older and more dignified gentlemen, including Bruce,
took upon themselves the lighter duty of entertaining the ladies; when
lunch-time came some of the young fellows kindled a fire, and Ruth
boiled the coffee. After that there was a good deal of pairing off and
walking about, or sitting cozily upon old mossy, fallen trunks of trees.

Miss Custer, who had not yet risen from the grass-plot where she had
sat to eat her dinner, looked away down across the green meadows with
sleepy, half-shut eyes, and asked, "What is that pile of stones in the
corner yonder?"

A youthful jeweller whom she remembered among her distant admirers
answered, "It's an old well. This place here used to be a stock-farm,
but it hasn't been used for that for a good many years; so the framework
and buckets have been taken away."

Miss Custer, seized with a sudden impulse, sprang up and exclaimed, "I
have a great mind to go down and take a look into it. Old wells have a
peculiar fascination for me, and that one looks so lovely and romantic!"

She had a thought that Bruce might volunteer to accompany her, but that
indolent barrister, sprawling upon the grass at her feet, hardly felt
called upon by the nature of his agreement with Ebling to undergo quite
so much as that. He reflected that it was his business to keep the
charmer out of mischief for the day. "And if she meanders away to that
fascinating well," he thought, "in her own solitary company, nobody will
be damaged, so far as I can see."

But Miss Custer, seeing no other way and feeling the position a little
awkward, appealed to Ruth, who got up and started with her. When they
had clambered down the rather steep hill to the meadow's edge Miss
Custer affectionately took her arm. "Don't you think picnics are stupid
things?" she asked confidingly.

"