d beyond it was a small white dwelling-house. Leonidas knew the place
perfectly well. It belonged to the superintendent of a mining tunnel,
who had lately rented it to some strangers from San Francisco. Thus much
he had heard from his family. He had a mountain boy's contempt for city
folks, and was not himself interested in them. Yet as he heard the
call, he was conscious of a slightly guilty feeling. He might have been
trespassing in following the rabbit's track; he might have been seen by
some one when he lost the letter and had to go back for it--all grown-up
people had a way of offering themselves as witnesses against him! He
scowled a little as he glanced around him. Then his eye fell on the
caller on the other side of the stockade.

To his surprise it was a woman: a pretty, gentle, fragile creature, all
soft muslin and laces, with her fingers interlocked, and leaning both
elbows on the top of the stockade as she stood under the checkered
shadow of a buckeye.

"Come here--please--won't you?" she said pleasantly.

It would have been impossible to resist her voice if Leonidas had wanted
to, which he didn't. He walked confidently up to the fence. She really
was very pretty, with eyes like his setter's, and as caressing. And
there were little puckers and satiny creases around her delicate
nostrils and mouth when she spoke, which Leonidas knew were
"expression."

"I--I"--she began, with charming hesitation; then suddenly, "What's your
name?"

"Leonidas."

"Leonidas! That's a pretty name!" He thought it DID sound pretty. "Well,
Leonidas, I want you to be a good boy and do a great favor for me,--a
very great favor."

Leonidas's face fell. This kind of prelude and formula was familiar to
him. It was usually followed by, "Promise me that you will never swear
again," or, "that you will go straight home and wash your face," or some
other irrelevant personality. But nobody with that sort of eyes had ever
said it. So he said, a little shyly but sincerely, "Yes, ma'am."

"You are going to the post-office?"

This seemed a very foolish, womanish question, seeing that he was
holding letters in his hand; but he said, "Yes."

"I want you to put a letter of mine among yours and post them all
together," she said, putting one little hand to her bosom and drawing
out a letter. He noticed that she purposely held the addressed side so
that he could not see it, but he also noticed that her hand was
small, thin, and white, even