rstanding was arrived at between Lancy and Dexie. They were sitting in
the parlor, with a screen drawn between them and any chance observer, their
plates on a small table near them, when Dexie playfully tossed over a piece
of confectionery bearing the words, "You look unhappy."

Lancy looked up with such a tender look in his eyes that Dexie instantly
repented her action, but it was too late, and she dropped her eyes to read
the sweet messenger that fell in her lap, "You have my heart."

Dexie had no answer except, "Do forgive me," and she tossed it over with a
look in her eyes that filled Lancy with an unutterable longing to take her
in his arms.

"What shall I forgive you for?" he said, laying his hand on hers. "I am not
unhappy, only when I see how you try to avoid me. I have kept my promise,
and have not spoken a word that could annoy you. Why do you try never to be
alone with me? It is hard to forgive you for that," he said, in a low tone.

"I did not mean anything by those silly candies; I was only in fun."

"Then you don't want to be forgiven, is that it? or do you mean that you
are going to be good to me in the future?"

"I don't know what 'being good' implies, so I won't promise," she replied,
smiling.

"It means that you will not act as if you were afraid to be alone with me a
minute, and to talk to me as freely as you did before, well--before that
snowstorm. You have never put your hand on my shoulder, and asked me to
take you any place since then. You don't know how I miss the pleasant hours
we used to spend together, or the delight I felt in the pressure of the
hand that has never willingly touched mine since I spoke to you here in the
parlor. The Dexie I knew a few weeks ago seems to have gone away, and I
miss her very much, indeed."

"I can't be the same as I used to be, Lancy. Something is different, and
I'm so afraid someone will make remarks about us if we are so much together
as we used to be."

"What kind of remarks? tell me, Dexie. Something we would be ashamed to
hear?" and he smiled into her distressed face.

"You know what I mean very well, Lancy, and I couldn't bear it."

"Did you ever hear any remarks before--before that snowstorm?"

"No! I never thought there was anything to make remarks about, but I have
been looking at things differently lately."

"In what way, Dexie? Do tell me?" and he caught her hands in a firm clasp.

"Don't, Lancy! Please stop! There has been enough said an