in. If I were
you, Miss Comstock, I'd send my mother to talk with her and I'd stay
here."

Tom had gauged Mrs. Comstock rightly. Polly put her arms around Elnora.
"Let me go with you, dear," she begged.

"I promised I would speak with her alone," said Elnora, "and she must be
considered. But thank you, very much."

"How I shall love you!" exulted Polly, giving Elnora a parting hug.

The girl slowly and gravely walked back to the willow. She could not
imagine what was coming, but she was promising herself that she would be
very patient and control her temper.

"Will you be seated?" she asked politely.

Edith Carr glanced at the bench, while a shudder shook her.

"No. I prefer to stand," she said. "Did Mr. Ammon give you the ring you
are wearing, and do you consider yourself engaged to him?"

"By what right do you ask such personal questions as those?" inquired
Elnora.

"By the right of a betrothed wife. I have been promised to Philip Ammon
ever since I wore short skirts. All our lives we have expected to marry.
An agreement of years cannot be broken in one insane moment. Always he
has loved me devotedly. Give me ten minutes with him and he will be mine
for all time."

"I seriously doubt that," said Elnora. "But I am willing that you should
make the test. I will call him."

"Stop!" commanded Edith Carr. "I told you that it was you I came to
see."

"I remember," said Elnora.

"Mr. Ammon is my betrothed," continued Edith Carr. "I expect to take him
back to Chicago with me."

"You expect considerable," murmured Elnora. "I will raise no objection
to your taking him, if you can--but, I tell you frankly, I don't think
it possible."

"You are so sure of yourself as that," scoffed Edith Carr. "One hour in
my presence will bring back the old spell, full force. We belong to each
other. I will not give him up."

"Then it is untrue that you twice rejected his ring, repeatedly insulted
him, and publicly renounced him?"

"That was through you!" cried Edith Carr. "Phil and I never had been so
near and so happy as we were on that night. It was your clinging to him
for things that caused him to desert me among his guests, while he tried
to make me await your pleasure. I realize the spell of this place, for
a summer season. I understand what you and your mother have done to
inveigle him. I know that your hold on him is quite real. I can see just
how you have worked to ensnare him!"

"Men would call that lying," sai