"Do you remember," he went on quietly, still gently serious, "the day
when I whipped little Willie Thorp for you?"

"Yes," she answered lightly, yet not remembering all that he
remembered. "Of course. You--"

"You came and put both little fat, warm, sun-burned arms round me and
kissed me then, Wanda. Would you kiss me now?"

"You should have said that last night," she dimpled up at him. She
thought she knew him too well to take him seriously when he dropped
into one of his bantering moods, just trying perhaps to see if he could
drive a little flush of confusion into her cheeks. "I was so glad to
see you, I might have forgotten I had grown up. That we have grown
up," she said.

"I wish I had," he said abruptly, flinging his head up with the old
gesture she remembered so well. "Wanda, you are the most wonderful
girl-woman in the world! What has happened to you? What have you done
to yourself? What have you done to your eyes? Do you know, Miss Wanda
Leland--are you a little witch and do you do it on purpose?--that those
two eyes of yours can make madness in a man's soul?"

"Flatterer!" she countered brightly. "Have you been a whole year
making pretty speeches, and must you keep it up now because you've got
into the habit and since the pretty ladles of your travels are not here
and I am? Aren't you a little bit ashamed of yourself? Aren't you
afraid that you will create havoc by putting a lot of foolish ideas
into a country girl's head?"

He laughed at last, becoming suddenly the same old Red Reckless that he
had always been, and swung down lightly from the saddle. Dropping Lady
Lightfoot's reins to the ground he came to where Wanda sat and having
stood over her a moment looking down into the clear eyes which were
turned frankly up to him he made himself comfortable at her feet,
stretching luxuriously in the warm grass.

"It's great to be back, Wanda," he said musingly, with a deep sigh of
content. "You are going to squander a little of your precious time on
me, aren't you? I've been deucedly energetic all morning; now I'm just
brimful of sunshine and laziness. So lazy that I want just to smoke
and watch you and listen while you talk. You will have a whole lot to
tell me about all the things you've been doing while I was away."

[Illustration: "I want just to smoke and watch you and listen while you
talk."]

She gathered her knees into her clasped hands and smiled down upon the
flaming red hai