on?" I essayed innocently.

"No, I'm not Buck Jackson, but he's a pal of mine. I'm----"

"Oh, please," I exclaimed again. "Don't spoil it!"

"Spoil it!" he repeated a little dazed. "Say, will you talk English?"

"I mean," I explained, carelessly tossing away now into the grass the
nasty little thing that was making my throat smart, "I mean, don't spoil
my adventure. Life has so few. To walk down a little path for the
purpose of looking at a view, and instead to run across a stranger who
may be anything from a bandit to an Italian Count is so--so romantic."

"Romantic!" he repeated. He wasn't a bit good at repartee. "Who are
you, anyway?"

"Why, I'm any one from a peasant to an heiress."

"You're a darned attractive girl, anyhow!" he ejaculated, and as
lacking in subtlety as this speech was, I prized it as sign of my
adversary's surrender.

Five minutes later Mr. Sewall suggested that we walk back
together to the people gathered on the lawn. But I had no intention
of appearing in public with a celebrated person like Breckenridge
Sewall, without having first been properly introduced. Besides, my
over-eager sister-in-law would be sure to pounce upon us. I
remembered my scarf. I had left it by my empty cup on the cedar
table. It seemed quite natural for me to suggest to this stranger
that before rejoining the party I would appreciate my wrap. It had
grown a little chilly. He willingly went to get it. When he
returned he discovered that the owner of the bit of lavender silk
that he carried in his hand had mysteriously disappeared. Thick,
close-growing vines and bushes surrounded the bench, bound in on
both sides the shaded path. Through a network of thorns and
tangled branches, somehow the owner of that scarf had managed to
break her way. The very moment that Mr. Sewall stood blankly
surveying the empty bench, she, hidden by a row of young firs, was
eagerly skirting the west wall of her hostess's estate.

CHAPTER III

EPISODE OF A SMALL DOG

During the following week Miss Vars often caught a fleeting glimpse of
Mr. Sewall on his way in or out of town. She heard that he attended a
Country Club dance the following Saturday night, at which she chanced
not to be present. She was told he had actually partaken of refreshment
in the dining-room of the Country Club and had allowed himself to be
introduced to several of her friends.

It was very assuming of this modest young girl, was it not, to imagine
that M