hat had come to
her during these last days of waiting. "You are on his land, you know."

"Surely you don't imagine--" he began.

She laughed lightly.

"My dear Wayne, how should I know?"

"I don't understand you, Wanda," he said a little stiffly. "After what
happened the other day--"

In spite of her a little glowing colour ran up into her cheeks.

"Goodness," she exclaimed, persisting in the part she had vowed many
times a day she would play for him, "haven't you forgotten that?
Really, after you'd had time to think about it didn't you have to
laugh? Weren't we a couple of precious kidlets?"

For a moment he stared at her as though dazed. This was a Wanda he had
never seen before; he did not know what to make of her. And then
suddenly he put his head back, the gladness that had sung in his heart
when first he rode to meet her surged back and he laughed the great,
deep, happy laugh the girl knew so well.

"You little witch!" he cried gaily, as gaily as Wanda had spoken at
first and more genuinely so. "You've just set out to plague me. And
I'll show you how I treat little girls who tease!"

Without more ado he came close to the rock upon which she sat looking
down at him with demure eyes, swept her off into his arms and kissed
her before he put her down.

"Now, Wanda Witch," he said softly, his eyes laughing into hers. "Are
you sorry? And do you love me so hard it almost hurts?"

"So," she said when at last he released her, not certain in her heart
that she had held out quite long enough, "that is the way you treat
little girls who tease, is it? All little girls who tease? The
'Roosian' princess, for instance?"

"The _what_?" he demanded, having for the moment forgotten Dart's wild
tale.

"Helga," she told him quite as seriously as she could, rearranging her
disturbed hair and meanwhile looking up at him with eyes that were
beginning to defy her and smile.

As he remembered, as he thought of the things Dart had told her to
"boost his game" he became for one of the rare times in his life just a
trifle embarrassed. She must think him a fool for letting that little
cur yap all kind of nonsense into her ears, or the ears of any one who
would listen. He flushed under her teasing eyes.

"I'm going to wring Willie Dart's little neck the first thing when I
get home," he said. "Look here, Wanda--"

"Oho!" Her brows lifted and she looked at him speculatively. "So
there really is a Helga, is the