hion.

They both laughed at that. Did Doris know what a pretty picture she made
of herself in her girlish grace?

"Thank you. What a splendid old hall! I should like to spend a day
looking round. But I had only the briefest while, and I was afraid I
should not get here. So I must be satisfied with my glimpse. I shall
hope that fate will send me this way again when I have more leisure. May
I pay a visit here?"

"Oh, yes," returned Doris impulsively. "And I can never tell you how
glad I am for this," touching the little packet caressingly to her
cheek. "There isn't any word with enough thanks and gratitude in it."

"I am glad to have earned your gratitude. And now I must say farewell,
for I know you are impatient to read your letter."

He stepped out on the porch and bowed with a kind of courtly grace.
Doris realized then that he was a very handsome young man.

"Miss Doris,"--he paused halfway down the steps,--"I wonder if I might
be so bold as to ask for yonder rose--the last on its parent stem?"

Thomas Moore had not yet immortalized "The Last Rose of Summer" and
given it such pathetic possibilities.

"Oh, yes," she said. "That is a late-blooming rose--indeed, it blooms
twice in the season." Only this morning she had gathered a bowl of rose
leaves for Miss Recompense, and this one had opened since. She broke
the stem and handed it to him. "It is a very little gift for all you
have brought me," she added in a soft, heart-felt tone.

"Thank you. I shall cherish it sacredly."

Miss Recompense had hurried and donned a gingham gown and a fresh cap.
She had come just in time to see the gift, and the manner in which the
young man received it alarmed her. And when he had walked down to the
street he turned and bowed and made a farewell gesture with his hand.

Doris had nothing to cut the cord around the packet, so she bit it with
her pretty teeth and tore off the wrapper, coming up the steps. Then
raising her eyes she sprang forward.

"Oh, dear Miss Recompense, letters, see! A letter from Cary all to
myself, and one for Uncle Win! I'll just put that on his table to be a
joyful surprise. And may I come and read mine to you? He was in such a
hurry, though really I did not ask him to stay. Was that impolite?"

"No--under the circumstances." She cleared her throat a little, but the
lecture on propriety would not materialize.

"'Dear little Doris.' Think of that--wouldn't Cary be surprised to see
how much I have grow