treme shavedness, was
more attractive than she had remembered.

"Glad to see me?" he demanded.

"Oh, rather!"

"You're looking----"

"You're so----"

"Nice trip? You know you've sent me nothing but postcards with 'Pretty
town,' or something equally sentimental."

"Yes, it's really been bully. These mountains and big spaces simply
inspire me." She said it rather defiantly.

"Of course they do! Trouble is, with you away, we've nothing to inspire
us!"

"Do you need anything, with your office and your club?"

"Why, Claire!"

"I'm sorry. That was horrid of me."

"Yes, it was. Though I don't mind. I'm sure we've all become meek,
missing you so. I'm quite willing to be bullied, and reminded that I'm a
mere T.B.M."

She had got herself into it; she had to tell him that he wasn't just a
business man; that she had "just meant" he was so practical.

"But Jeff is no longer the practical one," he declared. "Think of Claire
driving over deserts and mountains. But---- Oh, it's been so lonely for
us. Can you guess how much? A dozen times every evening, I've turned to
the telephone to call you up and beg you to let me nip in and see you,
and then realized you weren't there, and I've just sat looking at the
'phone---- Oh, other people are so dull!"

"You really miss----"

"I wish I were a poet, so I could tell you adequately. But you haven't
said you missed me, Claire. Didn't you, a teeny bit? Wouldn't it have
been tolerable to have poor old Jeff along, to drive down dangerous
hills----"

"And fill grease-cups! Nasty and stickum on the fingers!"

"Yes, I'd have done that, too. And invented surprises along the way. I'm
a fine surpriser! I've arranged for a motor-boat so we can explore the
lake here tomorrow. That's why I had you wait here instead of coming on
to Kalispell. Tomorrow morning, unfortunately, I have to hustle back and
catch a train--called to California, and possibly a northern trip. But
meantime---- By now, my driver must have sneaked my s'prises into the
kitchen."

"What are they?"

"Guess."

"Food. Eats. Divine eats."

"Maybe."

"But what? Please, sir. Claire is so hungry."

"We shall see in time, my child. Uncle Jeff is not to be hurried."

"Ah--let--me--see--now! I'll kick and scream!"

From New York Jeff had brought a mammoth picnic basket. To the fried
chicken ordered for dinner he added sealed jars of puree of wood pigeon,
of stuffed artichokes prepared by his club chef; caviar and