ly,
and as he turned to look at the torrent below, slid down the rock
in safety. Sperry's brow knit. What surprised him was to find her
different from the girls he had known. Then he said in an absent way:

"What splendid rapids!"

"It's the most beautiful old stream in the world," replied Margaret,
glad he had found another topic besides herself.

"But be careful," he cautioned her a few rods farther on; "it's
slippery here. Come, give me your arm."

Again she evaded him.

"I'm not an invalid," she laughed--she was farther from him now and
her courage had accordingly increased.

"Of course you're not--whoever said you were. Invalids do not have
cheeks like roses, my little girl, and yours are wonderful to-day."

The girl turned away her head in silence, and the two picked their
steps the remainder of the way down to the brook without speaking.
There she made a spring and landed on a flat rock about the edge of
which swirled the green water of a broad pool. Sperry, undaunted,
seated himself beside her.

"Margaret," he began, "why don't you like me? I seem to have offended
you. Tell me, what have I said? I wouldn't offend you for the world,
and you know it. Why don't you like me?" he repeated.

"Why, doctor!" she exclaimed with a forced little laugh that trembled
in her fresh, young throat, "what a funny question!"

"I am quite serious," he added, with a sudden vibrant tone in his
voice. Impulsively his hand closed over hers; she felt for a second
the warm pressure of his fingers, the next instant she started to her
feet.

"Don't!" she cried indignantly, flushing to the roots of her fair
hair, her wide-open eyes staring at him. "You mustn't do that; I don't
like it!" Her lips were trembling now, her eyes full of tears. Then
she added helplessly "We had better be going--we shall be late for
luncheon."

He was standing beside her now. "Then tell me you like me," he
insisted. "Besides, we have loads of time. Why, it's only twenty
minutes to one," he said, looking hurriedly at his watch, careful to
conceal the tell-tale hands of its dial from her frightened glance.

Without answering the girl turned and began to retrace her steps.

"But you haven't said you like me," he called out, hurrying to her
side.

Margaret did not speak; she only knew that her head was throbbing,
that she heard but indistinctly the words of the man who kept close to
her as they went on up the steep trail. At the rock where she had