t and true as a bird. "Is she calling still?"
she asked.

"Who?" Frank asked, not following.

"Duty," she answered; and as she spoke she shut her eyes tight and drew
the lids together.

"Somehow, I don't hear her so plainly as I did," he returned, with a
laugh.

There was another pause, filled by a glance which made his heart throb.

"And if you stayed," she went on, at length, "I could tell you how nice
you are."

Frank smiled. "I don't hear her at all now--that Duty person," he said,
gayly.

"You are," she hesitated, "a very nice man."

He kept his eyes averted.

"One of the nicest I have ever known."

He fastened his eyes on the Chestnut Ridge.

"The nicest of all," she said, almost in a whisper, her eyes brimming
over with laughter.

At the words he sprang to the ground and stood beside her.

"And Duty?" she asked.

"I don't know whether it's Duty or not, but something tells me that
there's nothing in all the world of any importance except to stay with
you," he answered.

But with his acquiescence there came the veering in her moods for which
he had already learned to watch.

"Where were you going?" she asked.

"The lawyers telephoned for me from Marlton."

"They are waiting for you?"

"Yes."

"And you are going to keep them waiting because I asked you to stay?"

"Them or the whole world," he answered.

"King Francis," she said, with a courtesy, "must do no wrong. Here is a
flower--a horrible one, it is true, but the only one I have. Wear it,
and go to the lawyer men and think of me. Perhaps--this evening--" she
hesitated.

"May I come," he said, "early?"

* * * * *

On the evening of the twenty-sixth they sat on the mahogany settle
together, in a moonless night, the lilacs and honeysuckle a-bloom around
them.

"All those people are coming to-morrow. I wish they were in some other
place," he ended, inadequately considering the vehemence of his tone.
"Do you, Katrine?" he asked.

She did not answer him.

"Do you, Katrine?" he repeated, insistently.

There was no response.

"Do you wish that we had these ten happy days to live over? Do you wish
that they might come again? Will you miss me?"

She turned toward him with a wistful look, letting her eyes rest in his
as she spoke. "I am sorry it is over. I shall miss you more than I can
say."

"Thank you." And then, with a mixture of whimsicality and earnestness he
continued: "Do you remember the