t smiling, and put it behind her ear, and had
it been a pig or a fine mat no sweeter could have been her words of
gratitude, for Evanitalina had been well brought up, and courtesy was as
natural to her as breathing.

"I am named O'olo," said the young man, "and if you like _aute_
blossoms, every day shall I bring you some."

"I am Evanitalina, the daughter of Samuelu, the clergyman," she
returned, "and I shall be glad of the blossoms, for as yet thy father
has tabooed no lands for our garden."

Then O'olo realized she had mistaken him for the son of Amatuanai, the
chief, and while flattered he was also much cast down.

"I am only a Tongan," he said, deprecatorily, shame halting his tongue,
"and I live yonder where you see that nameless-animal rooting in the
slough--though to God a Tongan is every bit as good as a Samoan, and the
only chiefs are those who are strong in faith."

Evanitalina hastened to agree with him, though she was very disappointed
just the same, for he was so handsome, and had such pleasant manners,
and an air so noble and winning that she had never doubted he was of
rank. She herself was of the exalted I'i family, of Safotulafai, and
her grandfather was Tu'imaleali'ifano, and her great-grandfather had
been Tu-ia'ana. Yet as she went on, the memory of O'olo stayed with her
like the scent of frangipani, and for all he was a Tongan and without
land or position, she felt a great tenderness for him; and taking the
crimson flower she pressed it to her bosom, trembling with joy as she
did so, and saying to herself: "I love thee, I love thee, I love thee!"

The next day they met again, and the next after that, and soon the
village gossips were all of a chatter, though not a word of it reached
the Reverend Samuelu nor his wife. But if Evanitalina dared not tell her
parents of O'olo, in her conduct at least she was as good as gold, and
every time she held a tryst with her sweetheart, she took her little
brother with her as convention demands; and Polo, bribed with sugar
cane, sucked and chewed at the pieces O'olo peeled for him, his shaven
head untroubled by the woes of his elders. They, alas, were very
wretched, for O'olo had saved up two dollars, which was what to get
married costs, and was urging Evanitalina to run away with him to Atua;
while she, with superior wisdom called his proposal that of a delirious
person, for how were they to live afterwards except slavelike on the
bounty of others? When he