, does she--the
jade!"

More and more confused grew the other at these expressions.

"You don't understand--you are quite in error," he articulated.
"She--she has refused me nothing, because--because I have asked
nothing."

Mr. Weil uttered a disheartened groan.

"But this will not do, my dear fellow!" he said. "How can you accomplish
anything unless you make a beginning? Rewriting the story that she has
written will not advance you one step on the path you profess such
anxiety to tread. That is only an excuse--a make-believe--a pretence
under which you have been given quarters in this house and allowed every
chance in creation to learn your lesson. Are you afraid of her, or what
is the matter? Does she overpower you with her beauty? Tell me where
your difficulty lies."

But Shirley could hardly answer these apparently simple questions. He
said he feared the trouble might be in the formality of the situation.
How could Mr. Weil expect, he asked, that a spontaneous case of
love-making would develop from such a condition of things.

"Stuff!" cried Archie, with a grimace. "If you and she were members of a
theatrical company, and were cast as a pair of lovers, you wouldn't find
so many pitfalls. You would go ahead and repeat the lines of your part,
wouldn't you? All you want is to do the same now."

"But what _are_ the 'lines of my part?'" inquired the other, dolefully.

"Take her hand once in yours and they will come to you," retorted Weil.

Roseleaf reddened so much that Archie regretted the severity of his
tone, and hastened to turn the conversation to something more agreeable.
He made up his mind, however, to have a talk with Miss Fern, and at the
first opportunity he did so. It was on an afternoon when he knew
Roseleaf was in the city, and he came to the point at once, after his
own fashion.

"How are you and my young friend getting along?" he asked her.

"Oh, as well as possible," she responded. "I am learning to like him
more and more. I really shall be sorry when his task is done."

Mr. Weil shrugged his shoulders.

"There's a bit of selfishness in your words, Miss Fern," he said. "Have
you forgotten that he is not here to be useful to _you_ alone; that you
agreed to do what you could for _him_, as well?"

The girl cast down her pretty eyes in confusion.

"I am sure I have tried to be agreeable," she replied, gently.

"That is not enough," replied Archie, gravely. "What he needs is
something--som