and I went with her. Dear me," as something in his face
struck her, "you needn't look so horrified! It's not bad in New York
a bit--there's something going on all the while; and then we went to
Rockaway and Coney Island evenings, and had grand times. To tell
you the truth, I never cared for the country--I don't sleep a bit
well there. Of course, to come out this way, with everything nice,
it's all very fine, but to stay in--no, thanks."

"I know what you mean, of course," he said, "but the city's no place
for children. I'm mighty glad I didn't grow up there. And I've
always had the idea the country would be the best place to settle
down in, finally. You can potter around better there when you're
old, don't you think so? I remember old Uncle Robert and his
chrysanthemums--"

"Dear me, we all seem to be remembering a good deal this afternoon!"
she broke in. "Since we're neither of us children and neither of us
ready to settle down on account of old age, suppose we stick to
town, Bob?"

There was a practical brightness in her voice, and her even white
teeth, as she smiled persuasively at him, were very pretty. He
smiled back at her.

"That seems a fair proposition," he agreed. He reached for her
hand and for a moment her soft, bright coloring, her dainty
completeness, framed in the green of the little glade, were all he
saw. Then, as his eyes lingered on the cool little pond and the
waving pine boughs dark against the blue sky, he sighed.

"But I'm sorry you don't like the country, Tina, I am, truly," he
said boyishly. "I've had such bully times in it. And I--I rather had
the idea that we liked the same things."

"Gracious!" the young lady murmured, "after the arguments we've had
over plays and actors!"

"Oh well, I suppose girls are all alike. But I mean other things--"

"Where did you do the Pirates?" Brother inquired, politely.

"What? Where did I--oh to be sure," he returned good-naturedly. "We
had an enormous cellar, all full of pillars, to hold it up, and
queer little rooms and compartments in it; a milk room and vegetable
bins and a workshop. You could ride on a wheel all round, dodging
the pillars. There were all kinds of places to lie in wait there,
and spring out. Win told us an awful thing out of Poe that happened
in a cellar, and Thea would never go there after four in the
afternoon.

"It was a jolly old place," he went on dreamily, "I can't keep my
mind off it this afternoon, somehow, since I've