's blush upon her cheek. A
perfectly natural action, it was for that reason and others, a very
effective one.

"When I found out who you were," pursued Rube, studying the face he
had praised, seeing it glorified by his praises, "I fairly froze to
Miss Josey, wanting so much to renew our acquaintance, and when you
had no word of welcome for an old friend, and gave me the cold
shoulder with such a vengeance, I was cut all to pieces over it. Fact!
I couldn't enjoy fishing, and I feel bad yet!"

"You might have known I did not recognize you," said Mell, lifting her
eyes. "I cannot tell you how glad I am, Mr. Rutland."

"_Mr. Rutland!_ It used to Rube."

"And shall be Rube again, if you so desire! Rube, I am just delighted
that you've come back home!"

CHAPTER IV.

EVEN.

So far, she had dallied innocently enough with her old playfellow;
neither seeking to please nor deceive, spreading no nets of
enchantment, nicely baited, to entrap the fancy of this agreeable
young man (rich too), who was as frank in nature and as transparent in
purpose, as physically muscular and daring.

At three o'clock, Miss Josey came to sound the horn for the races, and
the crowd came surging back. Old and young, big and little, the cream
of the county and its yeomanry, a congregation of the mass, a
segregation of the cliques, mounting high into the hundreds. The order
of the Grange was then at the zenith of its fame and power.

The crowd, as we have said, came surging back. The best of the fun was
yet to come. Mell roused herself and looked about her. Here were other
girls with sweet faces, and many of them, as she was aware, possessed
of those heavier charms of worldly substance which oftentimes outweigh
the sweetest of faces. None of them must lure him from her. He should
stick to her, now, come what would. The careless beauty, the ingenuous
and undesigning woman, is immediately transformed into a greedy
monopolist, a wily fox, a cunning serpent, a contriving, intriguing,
manoeuvring strategist, bent upon mischief, who will play a deep game
and stoop to the tricks of the trade, and shift, and dodge, and
shuffle, and aim to bring down, by fair means or foul, the noble
quarry.

Eye, lip, tongue, mind, heart, soul, the graces of youth, the
allurements of beauty, the treasures of a cultivated mind, and all
those sweet mysteries of sense which float in the atmosphere between a
young man and the maiden of his fancy, were put in motion to