with laughing impatience, "do
introduce us. Guy will rave about her all the way home, and bore us to
death, if he doesn't get his own way."

Without a word, Gilbert led his party up to the pine knoll and
presented them to his three friends.

He was conscious of a feeling of relief that they were such as could
not possibly provoke the visitors' mirth. As he introduced Blackburn
he was forcibly impressed by the sudden change in the young man's
manner. His flippant gaiety vanished before Miss Cameron's stately
candor, and he addressed her with the greatest deference.

Now was Gilbert's chance. He turned from the group for a word alone
with Rosalie. She seemed quite eager for it herself. She had such
heaps to tell him, she declared, that she never had time to put into a
letter. She had had the most gorgeous summer at the seaside, and had
been on two motoring tours since her return, and they were planning for
the gayest winter. She chatted away, but with never a word for him;
not a question as to his welfare or his work, and though she spoke to
him alone, her eyes kept darting annoyed glances toward the two under
the pines.

Gilbert's heart sank. "And where do I come in, Rosalie?" he asked
pleadingly.

"You," she said, pouting, "you simply refuse to come in. Why don't you
leave this dreadful place and come to the city? It must be like living
in a graveyard to exist here."

"I have told you often that I can't yet, Rosalie," he said humbly.
"But you promised not to forget me in the meantime, don't you remember,
dear?"

She turned away that he might not see her eyes, for her better
self--the real woman that cared for him, and knew his true worth--was
looking from them just then. And there was another Rosalie that cared,
oh, so much, for wealth and social position.

"You know--I--I've told you," she said tremulously, "what I want you to
do."

"I know, and I will settle in Toronto just as soon as I possibly can.
You have my promise. But I cannot come just now."

"When, then?"

"Perhaps at the beginning of the new year. If I----"

A frightened look came into her eyes, and she interrupted him.

"If you don't come at the beginning of the year it will be too late,"
she said breathlessly.

"Rosalie! What do you mean?"

"Hush! I--oh, I can't tell you," glancing apprehensively toward
Blackburn. "We are going on through Elmbrook when we leave," she
whispered hurriedly, "and you may drive me as far a