the advantage invariably remained with the younger. John
was nearer her own age, they had in common many tastes and interests
which the broker cared nothing about, and she felt more exuberant, more
youthful, in the newspaper man's society. Brockton, she could not help
remembering, was more than double her age. It would be unnatural if she
had not found the younger man more congenial. In her heart she felt
that Brockton, with all his money, had no real hold upon her, and that
if John really did care for her and asked her to marry him, she would
be face to face with the hardest question for which she had ever had to
find an answer.

CHAPTER IV.

Early one morning John came to the hotel to take Laura for a
prearranged excursion. Temporarily out of the bill at the theatre, and
a long holiday being hers to enjoy, she had suggested a little trip to
Manitou to see the far-famed Garden of the Gods, a place of scenic
marvels, where, by a strange freak of Nature, great rocks and boulders,
fantastic in shape and coloring, are thrown together in all kinds of
curious formations. The plan was to go by train as far as Colorado
Springs, and then finish the journey by automobile.

They started gleefully, by rail, and were soon spinning across the
verdant plains in the direction of Pike's Peak, the snow-capped peak of
which rose majestically in the distance. The day was beautiful, and
both being in good spirits, they enjoyed to the full the fresh,
invigorating air.

On reaching Colorado Springs, they partook of an appetizing luncheon,
served merrily under the trees. She laughed and chattered and discussed
plans for the future, while John, strangely silent, just looked at her,
quietly enjoying her spontaneous gayety, surprised himself at the keen
interest he was taking in her society. And the more he watched her
laughing eyes and dimpled smiles, the more he realized the loneliness,
the solitude of his own empty, aimless life. The summer would soon be
at an end. The past few weeks had sped by all too quickly for him, and
in the interval this girl, with her vivacious manner and laughing eyes,
had strangely grown upon him. What would he do when she was gone? When
the meal was finished, he went in search of a machine. An expert
chauffeur himself, they could manage the car without aid, and soon they
were running smoothly and rapidly along the mountain roads.

Laura chatted continuously while John kept a watchful eye in front. As