th the restful effect,
while the world without was aglare with light.

Here Mary had brought her sewing for the afternoon. She was working so
intently that she had not heard his approach. He had paused just as his
line of vision came flush with the trunks of the umbrella-trees. For the
first time he saw his companion in adventure in repose, her head bent,
leaving clear the line of her neck from the roots of her hair to the
collar, and the soft light bringing out the delicate brown of her skin.

There seemed no movement anywhere in the world at the moment, except the
flash of her needle in and out.

XIV

"HOW FAST YOU SEW!"

And she had not seen him! He was touched with a sense of guilt for
having looked so long; for not having at once called to her; and rather
than give her the shock of calling now, he moved toward her, the scuff
of his limp, pendent foot attracting her attention. Her start at the
sound was followed, when she saw him, with amazement and a flush and a
movement as if she would rise. But she controlled the movement, if not
the flush, and fell back into her chair, picking up her sewing, which
had dropped on the table.

It was like him, she might well think, to come unexpectedly, without
invitation or announcement. She was alert, ready to take the offensive as
the best means of defence, and wishing, in devout futility, that he had
stayed away. He was smiling happily at everything in cosmos and at her as
a part of it.

"Good afternoon!"

"Good afternoon!"

"That last lot of jelly was better than the first," he said softly.

"Was it? You must favor vintage jelly!"

"I came to call--my p.p.c. call--and to see your garden," he added.

"Is there any particular feature that interests you?" she asked. "The
date-trees? The aviary? The nursery?"

"No," he answered, "not just yet. It is very cool here under the
umbrella-trees, isn't it? I have walked all the way from the Galways and
I'll rest a while, if I may."

He was no longer the play cavalier in overornamented _chaparejos_ and
cart-wheel spurs, but a lame fellow in overalls, who was hitching toward
her on crutches, his cowpuncher hat held by the brim and flopping with
every step. But he wore the silk shirt and the string tie, and somehow he
made even the overalls seem "dressy."

"Pray sit down," she said politely.

Standing his crutches against the table, he accepted the invitation. She
resumed her sewing, eyes on the needle, lips pre