"Now don't be like Mr. Pell," said Leonore, reprovingly, "or I'll take
back what I just said."

"Did you roar, and did the tiger put its tail between its legs?" asked
Watts.

"That is the last thing our friends, the enemies, have found," said
Peter.

"You will tell me about it, won't you, Peter?" said Leonore,
ingratiatingly.

"Have you a mount for me, Watts, for to-morrow? Mutineer comes by boat
to-night, but won't be here till noon."

"Yes. I've one chap up to your weight, I think."

"I don't like dodgers," said Leonore, the corners of her mouth drawn
down.

"I was not dodging," said Peter. "I only was asking a preliminary
question. If you will get up, before breakfast, and ride with me, I will
tell you everything that actually occurred at that dinner. You will be
the only person, I think, who wasn't there, who knows." It was shameful
and open bribery, but bosses are shameful and open in their doings, so
Peter was only living up to his role.

The temptation was too strong to be resisted, Leonore said, "Of coarse I
will," and the corners of her mouth reversed their position. But she
said to herself: "I shall have to snub you in something else to make up
for it." Peter was in for a bad quarter of an hour somewhere.

Leonore had decided just how she was going to treat Peter. To begin
with, she intended to accentuate that "five years" in various ways. Then
she would be very frank and friendly, just as long as he, too, would
keep within those limits, but if Peter even verged on anything more, she
intended to leave him to himself, just long enough to show him that such
remarks as his "not caring to be friends," brought instant and dire
punishment. "And I shan't let him speak," Leonore decided, "no matter if
he wants to. For if he does, I'll have to say 'no,' and then he'll go
back to New York and sulk, and perhaps never come near me again, since
he's so obstinate, while I want to stay friends." Many such campaigns
have been planned by the party of the first part. But the trouble is
that, usually, the party of the second part also has a plan, which
entirely disconcerts the first. As the darkey remarked: "Yissah. My dog
he wud a beat, if it hadn't bin foh de udder dog."

Peter found as much contrast in his evening, as compared with his
morning, as there was in his own years. After dinner. Leonore said:

"I always play billiards with papa. Will you play too?"

"I don't know how," said Peter.

"Then it's time