lost behind the hills.

"My little girl," George said when the moment came that he must go, "My
dear little girl." He gathered her up in his arms--but did not kiss her.
For once in his life, Georgie-Porgie was too deeply moved for kisses.

After he had gone, Becky went into the Bird Room, and stood on the
hearth and looked up at the Trumpeter Swan. There was no one to whom she
could speak of the ecstasy which surged through her. As a child she had
brought her joys here, and her sorrows--her Christmas presents in the
early morning--the first flowers of the spring. She had sat here often
in her little black frock and had felt the silent sympathy of the wise
old bird.

He gazed down at her now with an almost uncanny intelligence. She
laughed a little and standing on tiptoe laid her cheek against the cool
glass. "When I am married," was her wordless question, "will you sound
your trumpet high up near the moon?"

CHAPTER VII

MADEMOISELLE MIDAS

I

There came to Huntersfield the next morning at about the same moment,
Kemp in his little car with a small parcel for Becky, and Calvin with a
big box from the express office.

Becky was in her room at breakfast when Calvin brought the boxes up to
her. It was a sunshiny morning, and the Judge had gone a-fishing with
Mr. Flippin. Becky, in a lace cap and a robe that was delicately blue,
sat in a big chair with a low table in front of her.

There were white roses on the table in a silver bowl. The Judge had sent
them to her. The Judge had for the women of his family a feeling that
was almost youthfully romantic, and which was, unquestionably,
old-fashioned. He liked to think that they had roses for their little
noses, ribbons and laces for their pretty faces. He wanted no harsh
winds to blow on them. And in return for the softness and ease with
which he would surround them, he wanted their deference to his masculine
point of view.

With the box which George sent was a note. It was the first that Becky
had ever received from her lover. George's code did not include much
correspondence. Flaming sentiment on paper was apt to look silly when
the affair ended.

To Becky, her name on the outside of the envelope seemed written in
gold. She was all blushing expectation.

"There ain't no answer," Calvin said, and she waited for him to go
before she opened it.

She read it and sat there drained of all feeling. She was as white as
the roses on her table. She read the n