the strangeness of the
whole affair that I was glad to be silent. Sitting opposite me, eating
Dorinda's doughnuts and apple puffs and the fish that I--_I_ had cooked,
was "Big Jim" Colton's daughter, the automobile girl, the heiress, the
"incarnation of snobbery," the young lady whose father I had bidden go
to the devil and to whom, in company with the rest of the family, I
had many times mentally extended the same invitation. And now we were
picnicing together as if we were friends of long standing. Why, Nellie
Dean could not appear more unpretentious and unconscious of social
differences than this girl to-day! What would her parents say if they
saw us like this? What would Captain Jed, and the rest of those in
rebellion against the Emperor of New York, say? That I was a traitor,
hand and glove with the enemy. Well, I was not; and I did not intend to
be. But for her to--

She interrupted my meditations.

"Mr. Paine," she observed, suddenly, "you will excuse my mentioning it,
but you are distinctly not entertaining. You have not spoken a word for
five minutes. And you are not attending to my needs. The apple puffs are
on your side of the--table."

I hastened to pass the paper containing the puffs.

"I beg your pardon," I said, hurriedly. "I--I was daydreaming, I guess."

"So I imagined. I forgive you; this lunch would tempt me to forgive
greater sins than yours. Did that delightful old housekeeper of yours
cook all these nice things?"

"She did. So you think Dorinda delightful, do you?"

"Yes. She is so sincere and good-hearted. And so odd and bright and
funny. I could listen to her for hours."

"Humph! Well, if you were a member of her household you would have that
privilege often. I doubt if her husband considers it such a privilege."

"Her husband? Oh, yes! I met him. He is a character, too, isn't he?"

"Yes; a weak one."

She put down her coffee cup and sighed, contentedly.

"I think I never tasted anything so good as this lunch," she observed.
"And I'm quite sure I never ate so much at one sitting. I am going to
help you clear away, but please don't ask me to do it just now. Have you
finished? You may smoke, if you like."

I had been longing for a smoke and now I filled my pipe and lighted it.

"Now we can talk, can't we?" she said. "I want you to tell me about your
mother. How is she?"

"Just as she was when you saw her," I answered. "Mother is always the
same."

"She is a dear. I had heard so