to be mown and neatly gathered. And as she is in a good humor,
self-possessed, and the air is of the balmiest, is it wonderful that she
should smile absently on a good-looking stranger sitting by the
roadside, smoking a cigarette? Surely not, as the stranger is Tony Wild,
who has left Mr. Hedderwick exhausted at The Happy Heart, while he
strolls out to examine the lie of the land.

"Good morning," says Tony courteously, raising his cap. He does not get
up, for that might frighten her away. "Can you tell me which is the road
to Hetton-le-Hole? Forgive me asking, but...."

"I have never heard of it," says the lady, with a smile that shows she
penetrates Tony's elementary artifice. "I am sorry.... Good morning."

Tony deliberately flicks the ash from his cigarette.

"What a bore!" he observes with a fluent laziness in his voice, and of
course the lady can not continue her progress while he is speaking. It
would look so prudish. "I was awfully keen on seeing Hetton-le-Hole, but
nobody here seems to know the road, so I suppose I shall have to give up
the idea. I say, don't you find life rather a bore?" It was an abrupt
change of subject, but there seemed no inconsequence as the words
dropped idly from his lips. He appeared to be talking at random for an
obvious purpose, but with an unaffected sincerity. "Nothing to do, I
mean, and not a vast amount to see. One day following another, and so
forth, you know...."

"Heavens, no!" replied the lady with an amused contempt. "There is so
much to see--to ask--to think about! What can a young man like you think
of himself if he is bored at ... at twenty-six?"

"Good shot!" said Tony. "I say, please forgive me being so forward and
pushing and all that, and do sit down and talk to me. I should be
tremendously gratified, and I'd do my best to amuse you."

"I have stayed too long already," she said with a crisp note of rebuke.
"I have neither the time nor the wish to stop and relieve the tedium of
bored strangers. I hope you will soon find the road you speak of."

She turned and went on her way. Tony smiled good-naturedly; really, she
had been quite lenient, though he had hardly deserved all she said and
implied. She was more than pretty and was evidently no fool. A lady?
N--no ... but ... was it worth following up? Should he try to engineer a
small flirtation or be content with the fair promises held out by Mr.
Hedderwick? N ... no ... Yes! She had spurned his lightly-proffered