the pressing of his suit, for the lady was certainly in a very
untoward humor, and he was not altogether sorry to have an excuse for
breaking off the interview at this point. He had not yet been discarded,
and he would like to think over the matter, and see if he could discover
any reason for the very disrespectful manner, to say the least of it,
with which Miss March had received his amatory advances. "I suppose I
must go and see the man," he said, "though I can't imagine who it can
possibly be. Will you return to the house?"

"No," said Miss Roberta, "I will stay here a little longer, and enjoy
the view."

CHAPTER XVII.

As Lawrence Croft walked down Pine Top Hill his mind was in a good deal
of a hubbub. The mind of almost any lover would be stirred up if he came
fresh from an interview, in which his lady had pinned him, to use a
cruel figure, in various places on the wall to see how he would spin and
buzz in different lights. But the disdainful pin had not yet gone
through a vital part of Lawrence's hopes, and they had strength to spin
and buzz a good deal yet. As soon as he should have an opportunity he
would rack his brains to find out what it was that had put Roberta March
into such a strange humor. No one who simply desired to decline the
addresses of a gentleman would treat her lover as Miss March had treated
him. It was quite evident that she wished to punish him. But what had
been his crime?

But the immediate business on his hands was to go and see what man it
was who wished to see him. Ordinarily the fact that a man had called
upon him would not be considered by Lawrence a matter for cogitation,
but as he walked toward the house it seemed to him very odd that any one
should call upon him in such an out-of-the-way place as this, where so
few people knew him to be. He was not a business man, but a large
portion of his funds were invested in a business concern, and it might
be that something had gone wrong, and that a message had been sent him.
His address at the Green Sulphur Springs was known, and the man in
charge there knew that he was visiting Mrs Keswick.

These considerations made him a little anxious, and helped to keep his
mind in the hubbub which has been mentioned.

When he reached the front of the house, Lawrence saw a lean, gray horse
tied to a tree, and a man sitting upon the porch; and as soon as he made
his appearance the latter came down the steps to meet him.

"I didn't go into