d plenty of it, so that I could give you most
anything you wanted. You--you don't mind thinking it over, do you?"

"No," said Eve, a little unsteadily, "but--oh, I do wish you wouldn't
talk as you do! You make me feel so little and worthless, and I don't
like to feel that way."

"But how?" cried Wade, in distress. "I don't mean to!"

"I know you don't. That's just it. But you do. When you talk so meanly
of yourself, I mean. Just as though any girl wouldn't feel proud at
having--at hearing--oh, you must know what I mean!" And Eve turned a
flushed, beseeching face toward him.

"Not quite, I'm afraid," Wade answered. "Anyhow, I don't want you to
feel proud, Miss Walton. If any one should feel proud, it's I, to think
you've let me say this to you and haven't sent me off about my
business."

"Oh, please!" begged Eve, with a little vexed laugh.

"What?" he asked, perplexedly.

"Don't talk of yourself as though you were--were just nothing, and of me
as though I were a princess. It's absurd! I'm only a very ordinary sort
of person with ordinary faults--perhaps more than my share of them."

"You're the finest woman I ever saw, and the loveliest," replied Wade
stoutly. "And if you're not for me no other woman is."

The sunshade intervened again and they walked on for some little
distance in silence. Then Wade began slowly, choosing his words: "Maybe
I've talked in a way to give you a wrong impression. You mustn't think
that there's any--false modesty about me. I reckon I have rather too
good an opinion of myself, if anything. I wouldn't want you to be
disappointed in me--afterwards, you know. I reckon I've got an average
amount of sense and ability. I've been pretty successful for a man of
twenty-eight, and it hasn't been all luck, not by a whole lot! Maybe
most folks would say I was conceited, had a swelled head. It's only when
it comes to--to asking you to marry me that I get kind of down on
myself. I know I'm not good enough, Miss Walton, and I own up to it. The
only comforting thought is that there aren't many men who are. I'm
saying this because I don't want to fool you into thinking me any more
modest and humble than I am. You understand?"

"Yes, I understand," replied Eve, from under the sunshade.

"And you won't forget your promise?"

"You mean--"

"To think it over."

"No, I won't forget. But please don't hope too much, Mr. Herrick, for I
can't promise anything, really! It isn't that I don't like you, fo