t she reprimanded herself for selfishness. It meant something to him,
whether it did to her or not. She must be kind--as kind as she could.

The kindest thing she could think of was to keep him from proposing. To
that end she answered every sentimental remark with a flippant one.

It grieved, but did not restrain him. "I had thought you would understand
better, Katie," he said.

Something in his voice made her question the kindness of her method.
Better decline a love than laugh at it.

He talked on of how he had, at various times, cared--in a way, he
said--for various girls, but had never found the thing he knew was fated
to mean the real thing to him; Katie had heard it all before, and always
told with that same freedom from suspicion of its ever having been said
before. But perhaps it was the very fact that it was familiar made her
listen with a certain tenderness. For she seemed to be listening, less to
him than to the voice of by-gone days--all those merry, unthinking days
which in truth had dealt very kindly and generously with her.

She had a sense of leaving them behind. That alone was enough to make her
feel tenderly toward them. Even a place within a high-board fence,
intolerable if one thought one were to remain in it, became a kindly and
a pleasant spot from the top of the fence. Once free to turn one's face
to the wide sweep without, one was quite ready to cast loving looks back
at the enclosure.

And so she softened, prepared to deal tenderly with Captain Prescott,
as he seemed then, less the individual than the incarnation of
outlived days.

It was into that mellowed, sweetly melancholy mood he sent the
following:

"And so, Katie, I wanted to talk to you about it. You're such a good
pal--such a bully sort--I wanted to tell you that I care for Ann--and
want to marry her."

She dropped from the high-board fence with a jolt that well-nigh knocked
her senseless.

"I suppose," he said, "that you must have suspected."

"Well, not exactly suspected," said Katie, feeling her bumps, as it were.

Her first emotion was that it was pretty shabby treatment to accord one
who was at such pains to be kind. It gave one a distinctly injured
feeling--getting all sweet and mellow only to be dashed to the ground and
let lie there in that foolish looking--certainly foolish feeling heap!

But as soon as she had picked herself up--and Katie was too gamey to be
long in picking herself up--she wondered what under he