w that at that
season he was not likely to be called away on business, and he had given
me no reason to suppose he was enjoying himself; and as I walked with
him to the gate I am afraid I was only stiffly polite. Our spirits rose
after his departure. Anita said she had found him an incongruity, and I
was tired of the spectacle of a purse-proud man trying to appear like
other people. But if I were harsh in my judgment of him I was speedily
punished. On the third day after he left I received a message from
Baxter, who wanted to see me at Baldwin's tent. He was not allowed to
come into the grounds, for Anita said that would look too much like
business.

"I found that Baxter's errand was indeed urgent, and that he was fully
warranted in disturbing our privacy. The members of an English syndicate
were coming down from Canada to make final arrangements with me for the
purchase of a great tract of mining land, and as my presence and
signature were absolutely necessary in the concluding stages of the
transaction, I would be obliged to be in New York on the next day but
one.

"I was greatly annoyed by this intelligence. The weather was
particularly fine, Anita was reading me a most interesting novel, and I
was settling myself down to a thorough enjoyment of our cottage life,
which I did not wish interfered with by anybody or anything, and I
growlingly asked why the syndicate had chosen such an unsuitable time of
the year to come down from Canada. But Baxter did not know. I continued
to growl, but there was no way out of it. I must go to New York. For the
sake of perhaps half a million dollars, which would not alter our
ordinary manner of living, which would not give us any pleasures,
privileges, or advantages of any kind which we did not now possess, we
must break up our delightful life at the cot and rill, and go back to
the humdrum of ordinary society.

"Baxter tried to console me. He said we could easily return when this
business had been settled. But I knew that going away would break the
charm; I thoroughly understood Anita's nature, and I was sure if she
left the cot for a time she would not want to go back to it. But when I
told her Baxter's business, and that she would have to have some one
come and pack up for her, she flatly declared that no one should do
anything of the kind. She would stay where she was.

"'You can't stay here by yourself!' I cried.

"'Of course not,' she said. 'Who could imagine such an absurd