deserted buggy, but I do not
believe it is safe to put too much trust in people."

"A fine, practicable mind," said the doctor; "cuts clean and sharp. I
will bring the cushions and the whip, if they have not been stolen before
I reach them. And now I will go to the barn and get my horse. We need
not disturb the industrious Mike."

"If you are going to the barn, doctor," cried Miriam, seizing her hat, "I
will go with you and put the mosquito net over my calf, which I entirely
forgot to do. Perhaps, if it is light enough, you will look at its eye."

The doctor laughed, and the two went off together, leaving Dora and Ralph
on the piazza.

Dora could not help thinking of herself as a very lucky girl. When she
had started that afternoon to make a little visit at Cobhurst, she had
had no imaginable reason to suppose that in the course of a very few
hours she would be sitting alone with Mr. Haverley in the early
moonlight, without even his sister with them. She had expected to see
Ralph and to have a chat with him, but she had counted on Miriam's
presence as a matter of course; so this tete-a-tete in the quiet beauty
of the night was as delightful as it was unanticipated. More than that,
it was an opportunity that ought not to be disregarded.

The new mind of Miss Dora Bannister was clear and quick in its
perceptions, and prompt and independent in action. It not only showed
what she wanted, but indicated pretty clearly how she might get it. Since
she had been making use of this fresh intellect, she had been impressed
very strongly by the belief that in the matter of matrimonial alliance, a
girl should not neglect her interest by depending too much upon the
option of other people. Her own right of option she looked upon as a
sacred right, and one that it was her duty to herself to exercise, and
that promptly. She had just come from the seaside, where she had met some
earnest young men, one or two of whom she expected to see shortly at
Thorbury. Also Mr. Ames, their young rector, was a very persevering
person, and a great friend of her brother.

Of course it behooved her to act with tact, but for all that she must be
prompt. It was easy to see that Ralph Haverley could not be expected to
go very soon into the society of Thorbury, to visit ladies there, and as
she wanted him to learn to know her as rapidly as possible, she resolved
to give him every opportunity.

Miriam was gone a long time, because when she reached the ba