name, looked at him steadily a moment, and
shook her head, trying to smile.

"Never, Bojo--never that-- I couldn't," she said, and hurriedly went up
the stairs.

A lump came to his throat; something wildly, savagely delirious, seemed
to be pumping inside of him. He could not go back to the others at once.
He felt suffocated, in a whirl, with the need of mastering himself, of
bringing all the unruly, triumphant impulses that were rioting through
his brain back to calm and discipline.

At luncheon, Patsie proposed an excursion in cutters, claiming Mr.
Boskirk as her partner, and with a feeling almost of guilt he seconded
the proposal, understanding her desire to throw him with Doris. DeLancy
and Gladys Stone started first, after taking careful instructions for
the way to their rendezvous at Simpson's cider-mill--instructions which
every one knew they had not the slightest intention of following.
Boskirk, with the best face he could muster, went off with Patsie, who
disappeared like a runaway engine, chased by a howling brigade of dogs,
while Bojo and Doris followed presently at a sane pace.

"We sha'n't see Gladys and Fred," said Doris, laughing. "No matter.
They're engaged!"

"As though that were news to me."

"Did he tell you?"

"I guessed. Last night in the conservatory." He added with a sudden
feeling of good will: "Gladys is much nicer than I thought, really."

"She's awfully in love. I'm so glad."

"When will it be announced?"

"Next week."

"Heaven be praised!"

In a desire to come to a more intimate sharing of confidences he told
her of his fears.

"Louise Varney, a vaudeville actress!" said Doris, with a figurative
drawing in of her skirts.

"Oh, there's nothing against her," he protested, "excepting perhaps her
chaperone! Only Fred's susceptible, you know--terribly so--and easily
led."

"Yes, but people don't marry such persons--you can get infatuated and
all that--but you don't marry them!" she said indignantly. She shrugged
her shoulders. "It's all right to be--to be a man of the world, but not
that!"

He hesitated, afraid of going further, of finding a sudden
disillusionment in the worldly attitude her words implied. A certain
remorse, a feeling of loyalty betrayed impelled him on, as though all
danger could be avoided by forever settling his future. Their
conversation by degrees assumed a more intimate turn, until at length
they came to speak of themselves.

"Doris, I have something