d upon.

"Helene has a pretty house, white with green blinds and verandas, and
the loveliest lawns you ever saw--unless the English lawns are lovelier.

"To my city-wearied eyes the region is celestial in its horizon-wide
quiet. Only the ripple of water in leafy ravines--only the music of
birds breaks the silence that is so welcome, so blessed.

"To-day Helene and I picked strawberries for breakfast, then filled the
house with great fragrant peonies, some of which are the colour of
Brides' roses, some of water-lilies.

"I'm quite mad with delight; I love the farm with its ducks and hens and
pigeons; I adore the cattle in the meadow. They are fragrant. Helene
laughs at me because I follow the cows about, sniffing luxuriously. They
smell like the clover they chew.

"Louis, dear, I have decided to remain a week here, if you don't mind.
I'm a little tired, I think. John Burleson, poor boy, does not need me.
I'm terribly worried about him. Rita writes that there is no danger of
pneumonia, but that Dr. Colbert is making a careful examination. I hope
it is not lung trouble. It would be too tragic. He is only twenty-seven.
Still, they cure such things now, don't they? Rita is hoping he will go
to Arizona, and has offered to go with him as his model. That means--if
she does go--that she'll nurse him and take care of him. She is devoted
to him. What a generous girl she is!

"Dear, if you don't need me, or are not too lonely without seeing me
come fluttering into your studio every evening at tea-time, I would
really like to remain here a few days longer. I have arranged business
so that I can stay if it is agreeable to you. Tell me exactly how you
feel about it and I will do exactly as you wish--which, please God--I
shall always do while life lasts.

"Sam came up over Sunday, lugging Harry Annan and a bulldog--a present
for Helene. Sam is _so_ sentimental about Helene!

"And he's so droll about it. But I've seen him that way before; haven't
you? And Helene, bless her heart, lets him make eyes at her and just
laughs in that happy, wholesome way of hers.

"She's a perfect dear, Louis; so sweet and kind to me, so unaffected, so
genuine, so humorous about herself and her funny title. She told me that
she would gladly shed it if she were not obliged to shed her legacy with
it. I don't blame her. What an awful title--when you translate it!

"Sam is temporarily laid up. He attempted to milk a cow and she kicked
him; and he's l