touching Nan.

Phillis and Dulce screamed with surprise, being young and easily
excited; but Nan only said, "Oh, Dick!" very faintly; and her sweet
face grew red and pale by turns, and her fingers fluttered a little in
his grasp, but only for joy and the sheer delight of seeing him.

As for Dick, his eyes shone, but his manner was masterful.

"Look here!" he said, drawing Nan's advertisement from his pocket; "we
had come down here to surprise you girls, and to have a little fun and
tennis; and I meant to have treated you to the public ground at the
hotel, as I knew you had only a scrubby little bit of lawn; and this
is what has met my eyes this morning! You have deceived mother and me;
you have let us enjoy our holiday, which I didn't a bit, for I had a
sort of nasty presentiment and a heap of uncomfortable thoughts; and
all the while you were slaving away at this hideous dressmaking,--I
wish I could burn the whole rag, tag, and bobtail,--and never let us
know you wanted anything. And you call that being friends!"

"Yes, and the best of friends, too," responded Phillis, cheerfully,
for Nan was too much crushed by all this eloquence to answer. "Come
along, Dulce! don't listen any more to this nonsense, when you know
mother is wanting us. Dick is all very well when he is in a good
humor, but time and dressmaking wait for no man." And the young
hypocrite dragged the unwilling Dulce away. "Can't you leave them
alone to come to an understanding?" whispered Phillis in her ear, when
they got outside the door. "I can see it in his eyes; and Nan is on
the verge of crying, she is so upset with the surprise. And, you
goose, where are you going now?"

"To mother. Did you not say she wanted us?"

"Oh, you silly child!" returned Phillis, calmly: "does not mother
always want us? One must say what comes uppermost in one's mind in
emergencies of this sort. But for me, you would have stood there for
an hour staring at them. Mother is out, as it happens: if you like we
will go and meet her. Oh, no, I forgot: Dick is a young man, and it
would not be proper. Let us go into the kitchen and help Dorothy." And
away they went.

"Phillis is a trump!" thought Dick, as he shut the door. "I love that
girl." And then he marched up to Nan, and took her hands boldly.

"Now, Nan you owe me amends for this; at least you will say you are
sorry."

"No, Dick," hanging her head, for she could not face his look, he was
so masterful and determined