f. He linked an affectionate arm in
hers.

"All right, Nan old girl, don't be waxy," he pleaded. "Come on the lake
with me this afternoon instead. I'll bring some prog if you will, and
we'll have one of our old red-letter days. Is it a promise?"

She hesitated, still half inclined to be ungracious.

"Well," she said at length, moved in spite of herself by his persuasive
attitude, "I will come to please you, on one condition."

"Good!" ejaculated Jerry. "It's done, whatever it is."

"Don't be absurd!" she protested, trying to be stern and failing somewhat
ignominiously. "I will come only if you will promise not to talk about
anything that you see I don't like."

"Bless your heart," said Jerry, lifting her fingertips to his lips, "I
won't utter a syllable, good or bad, without your express permission.
You'll come, then?"

"Yes, I'll come," she said, allowing the smile that would not be
suppressed. "But if you don't make it very nice, I shall never come
again."

"All right," said Jerry cheerily. "I'll bring my banjo. You always like
that. Come early, like a saint. I'll be at the boat-house at eleven."

He was; and Nan was not long after. The lake stretched for about a mile
in the squire's park, and many were the happy hours that they had spent
upon it.

It was a day of perfect summer, and they drifted through it in sublime
enjoyment. Jerry soon discovered that the girl's marriage and anything
remotely connected with it were subjects to be avoided, and as he had no
great wish himself to investigate in that direction he found small
difficulty in confining himself to more familiar ground. Without effort
they resumed the old friendly intercourse that the girl's rash step had
threatened to cut short, and long before the end of the afternoon they
were as intimate as they had ever been.

"You mustn't go in yet," insisted Jerry, when a distant clock struck
seven. "Wait another couple of hours. There's plenty of food left. And
the moonrise will be grand to-night."

Nan did not need much persuading. She had always loved the lake, and
Jerry's society was generally congenial. He had, moreover, been taking
special pains to please her, and she was quite willing to be pleased.

She consented, therefore, and Jerry punted her across to her favourite
nook for supper. She thoroughly enjoyed the repast, Jerry's ideas of
what a picnic-basket should contain being of a decidedly lavish order.

The meal over, he took up his banjo