n I thought."

"You are younger than you think. And you betray the fact," he
smiled.

"I have never been very young; probably I shall never be very old."

"You will always be exactly the right age," said Nicholas Jelnik.
"For you will always be a little girl, and a young maiden, and a
grown woman, and a bit of an old maid, and something of a
grandmother. That is a wonderful, a very, very wonderful
combination!"

I looked at him with more than doubt. But no, he was not poking fun,
though the rich color had come into his cheek, and the golden lights
flickered mischievously in his eyes.

"And I forgot to add, also a business woman!" he finished gaily.
"_Herr Gott_, but it took a business woman to tackle old Hynds House
and gather together such folks as you have there now!"

"Alicia was the head and front of _that_. I merely helped."

"Alicia," said Mr. Jelnik, "is a darling girl. Alicia is everything
a girl ought to be." But there was not in eyes or voice that light
and tone that crept into Doctor Richard's when he named her. My dear
girl's tender face--so true and beautiful and loving--rose before
me, and all she had meant to me, been to me, crowded upon my heart.
I said what I had never intended to say to any one:

"Why, Alicia's my--my _child_, to me! Don't you understand?"

"Dear Woman, yes!" His voice was melted gold.

The ridiculous little brook went whish-whis-sssh; and the bluish
shadows melted into gray; and a chill came creeping, creeping, into
the air.

"Before you go," said Nicholas Jelnik, "I should like to give you a
talisman, to turn Miss Smith into Woman-in-the-Woods every now and
then." And with his pocket-knife he cut a sharp line down the thin
old coin he had tossed, worked at it for a few minutes with a pocket
file and a stone, and then with his fingers that looked so slim but
were strong as steel nippers. The coin broke in halves.

"Half for you," said Mr. Jelnik, "and half for me, to commemorate a
comradely afternoon, and to mark a decision. We'll consider it a
token, a charm, a talisman--what you will. And if ever I really and
truly need a Woman-in-the-Woods to help me, why, I'll send my half
to her; and she'll obey the summons instantly and without question.
And if ever she needs a man--like me, say--why, she'll send her
half, and he'll come, instantly and without question." He was
smiling as he spoke. Now he paused to look at me earnestly. "Because
we are going to be real friends, y