deep voice every now and then emphatically coinciding with some
statement made by Orme. I could see the clean-cut features of the
latter, and his gestures, strongly but not flamboyantly made.

As for us two, the language that goes without speech between a young man
and a maid passed between us. I rejoiced to mock at her, always, and did
so now, declaring again my purpose to treat her simply as my neighbor
and not as a young lady finished at the best schools of Philadelphia.
But presently in some way, I scarce can say by whose first motion, we
arose and strolled together around the corner of the house and out into
the orchard.

CHAPTER V

THE MADNESS OF MUCH KISSING

"That was a very noble thing of you," Miss Grace Sheraton was saying to
me, as we passed slowly among the big trees of the Sheraton apple
orchard. Her eyes were rather soft and a slight color lay upon her
cheeks, whose ivory hue was rarely heightened in this way.

"I am in ignorance, Miss Grace," I said to her.

"Fie! You know very well what I mean--about yesterday."

"Oh, that," said I, and went rather red of the face, for I thought she
meant my salutation at the gate.

She, redder now than myself, needed no explanation as to what I meant.
"No, not that," she began hastily, "that was not noble, but vile of you!
I mean at the tavern, where you took my part--"

So then I saw that word in some way had come to her of the little brawl
between Harry Singleton and myself. Then indeed my face grew scarlet.
"It was nothing," said I, "simply nothing at all." But to this she would
not listen.

"To protect an absent woman is always manly," she said. (It was the
women of the South who set us all foolish about chivalry.) "I thank you
for caring for my name."

Now, I should have grown warmer in the face and in the heart at this,
but the very truth is that I felt a chill come over me, as though I
were getting deeper into cold water. I guessed her mind. Now, how was I,
who had kissed her at the lane, who had defended her when absent, who
called now in state with his father and mother in the family
carriage--how was I to say I was not of the same mind as she? I pulled
the ears of the hunting dog until he yelped in pain.

We were deep in the great Sheraton orchard, across the fence which
divided it from the house grounds, so far that only the great chimney of
the house showed above the trees. The shade was gracious, the fragrance
alluring. At a distance