ing,
only a few days previous. I was inclined to treat the matter as a jest;
but she awed me into belief and humility at once by the majesty with
which she reproved my unbelief: 'A _woman_ does not trifle with subjects
like this; nor go out of her way to tell travelers tales. I warn you.
Good bye.'

"After this she would not stay, though I awkwardly expressed my regret
at her going. By her command I saddled her horse, and helped her mount
him. Once in the saddle, her humor turned, and she reminded me that I
had not invited her to return. She said she 'could fancy that a week of
reading, talking, riding, trout-fishing, and romancing generally, up
there in those splendid woods, might be very charming. Was I going to
ask her to come?'

"I didn't ask her. A young man with a reputation to sustain up there in
the mountains, couldn't invite a young lady to come and stop a week with
him, could he? I must have refused to invite her, now, mustn't I?"

The perfect ingenuousness with which Ela put these questions, and the
plaintive appeal against the hard requirements of social laws in the
mountains, which was expressed in his voice and accent, were so
indescribably ludicrous that both my husband and myself laughed
convulsively. "I never tell my wife that part of the story, for fear she
might not believe in my regard for appearances, knowing how fond I am of
ladies' society. And the struggle _was_ great; I assure you, it was
_great_.

"So she went away. As she rode slowly down the trail, she turned and
kissed her hand to me, with a gesture of such grace and sweetness that I
thrilled all over. I've never been able to quite forgive myself for what
happened afterward. _She came back, and I drove her away!_ Usually, when
I tell that to women, they call me mean and ungrateful; but a young man
living alone in the mountains has his reputation to look after--now,
hasn't he? That's what I ought to have done--now, wasn't it--what I
always say I did do. It was the right thing to do under the
circumstances, wasn't it?"

While we had our laugh out, Ela shifted position, shook himself, and
thridded his soft, light hair with his slender fingers. He was satisfied
with his success in conveying an impression of the sort of care he took
of his reputation. "Now, then, I was left alone again, in no pleasant
frame of mind. I couldn't doubt what my beautiful visitant had told me,
and the thought of my murder all planned out was depressing, to say t