nt
us to go. I do hope he won't be anxious."

"Don't you suppose I can take care of you, ma'am?" Hubert asked, in mock
indignation, and Theodora smiled back at him contentedly.

The day was hot and dusty, and the roads more sandy than they had
supposed possible, so that it was a very limp and demoralized Theodora
who landed, three hours later, on her aunt's piazza. Theodora was always
destructive to her toilets, and in some mysterious manner she had parted
with all of her starch and most of her neatness, in the course of the
last nineteen miles. Once inside the cool, dark house, with a glass of
lemonade in her hand, however, Theodora forgot the discomforts of the
road.

"How goes it with you, Ted?" Hubert asked, late that afternoon. "Shall
we ride, or take the train?"

She pointed up at the clear sky, broken only by a few fleecy masses of
cloud on the western horizon.

"Think what that moon will be, and then ask me to take the train if you
dare."

"Aren't you tired?"

"Not a bit. Don't you think we can do it, Hu?"

He laughed at her spirit.

"All right. Don't blame me, though, if you are dead, to-morrow."

She tossed her head proudly.

"I don't die so easily; but, if you 're tired, we'll take the cars."

They had planned to start for home at six; but callers delayed the
supper, and, when they finally mounted, the moon was standing out in the
eastern sky, like a thick, white vapor. There was a chorus of good-byes,
a clashing of two bells, and the twins started off upon their homeward
ride.

For the first hour, it seemed to Theodora that she had never ridden more
easily. The fatigue of the morning had worn away, leaving only the
exhilaration; and, like most riders, she came to her best strength late
in the day. Slowly the twilight fell about them, and, as the golden
light of the sunset died away in the west, the silver lustre of the full
moon brightened the eastern sky. Theodora's gown was damp with the
falling dew, as they rolled quietly on between fields pale with sleepy
daisies and nodding buttercups. One by one, the cows in the pastures
stopped grazing and lay down to rest; while, above their heads, the
birds drowsily exchanged sweet good-nights. Then the last glow faded
from the west, and the world fell asleep.

"I don't half like those clouds, Ted," Hubert said suddenly. "If they
come up much faster, they'll play the mischief with us before we get
home."

"Oh, they won't do any harm," Theodora s