e lighting the lanterns for their homeward walk.

"You'd better come in the light of ours, Miss Lloyd," said Alex Shelby,
coming up to her with Bernice beside him. "We might as well take the
lead. Ranald seems to be having trouble with his wick."

Lloyd hesitated, remembering Rob's warning, but glancing behind her, she
saw Phil hurrying toward her, and abruptly decided to accept his
invitation. She knew that Phil was trying to arrange to walk home with
her. This would be his last opportunity to walk with her, and while she
knew that he would respect her promise to her father enough not to
infringe on it by talking openly of his regard for her, his constant
hints and allusions would keep her uncomfortable. He seemed to take it
for granted that she was bound to come around to this point of view some
day, and regard him as the one the stars had destined for her.

So it was merely to escape a tete-a-tete with Phil which made her walk
along beside Alex, and put out a hand to draw Mary Ware to the other
side. She linked arms with her as they pushed through the crowd, and
started down the road four abreast. But the fences were lined with
buggies and wagons, and the scraping wheels and backing horses kept them
constantly separating and dodging back and forth across the road, more
often singly than in pairs.

By the time they reached the gap in the fence where the path through the
woods began, the others had caught up with them, and they all scrambled
through in a bunch. Lloyd looked around, and, with a sensation of
relief, saw that Kitty had Phil safely in tow. She would be free as far
as The Beeches, at any rate. At a call from Elise, Mary ran back to join
her. Positions were being constantly shifted on the homeward way, just
as they had been before, and, looking around, Lloyd decided that she
would slip back presently with some of the others, who would not think
that two is company and three a crowd, as Bernice might be doing. The
backward glance nearly caused her a fall, for a big root in the path
made her ankle turn, and Alex Shelby's quick grasp of her elbow was all
that saved her.

"It was my fault, Miss Lloyd," he insisted. "I should have held the
lantern differently. There, I'll go slightly ahead and light the path
better. Can you see all right, Bernice?"

"Yes," she answered, shortly, out of humor that he should be as careful
of Lloyd's comfort as her own. She trudged along, taking no part in the
conversation. It