by her side, saying in his musical voice:

"No more tears now, Miss Dainty; for you must try to amuse me, to make
up for your cousins, who have left us in the lurch. But how glad I am
they went on ahead of us--are not you? For we shall have such a lovely
_tete-a-tete_ journey!"

Dainty emerged from her wet handkerchief, like the sun from behind a
cloud, blushing and dimpling with girlish mischief, as she exclaimed:

"But they will be so sorry! They will never get over it!"

She was only a girl, not an angel, so she could not help being pleased
with the thought of the discomfiture of her scheming cousins who had so
cleverly overreached themselves.

The train sped on through the beautiful sunshine of early June, leaving
the heated city far behind, and Dainty's heart felt as buoyant as the
morning, her journey was so pleasant and her companion so attractive,
placing her so completely at her ease, except when he would fix his
brilliant dark eyes so ardently on her face that she would blush in
spite of herself and look down in sweet confusion while her innocent
heart throbbed wildly with a new, sweet sensation almost akin to pain.

After one of these confusing episodes, Dainty tried to shake off her
embarrassment by saying:

"Tell me all about Ellsworth! Is it indeed so grand that my aunt will be
ashamed of me, as my cousins declared?"

"No one could be ashamed of _you_!" declared Ellsworth, with another
glance that set her pulses beating wildly, though she answered,
demurely:

"Thank you; but, of course, you are not a judge of clothes. Olive and
Ela said I had nothing fit to wear at Ellsworth."

"I have never seen a prettier or more becoming gown than the one you
have on now," he replied, with an approving glance at her crisp, freshly
laundered blue linen, while he added: "We have some very nice young men
in the neighborhood of Ellsworth, and I am sure they will all fall in
love with you at sight."

"Flatterer!" she cried with shy archness; but his words and looks
thrilled her heart, and made her think, with sudden passion:

"If only he would fall in love with me, I could excuse all the rest!"

What a change had come to the tired and weary schoolgirl of only
yesterday! She was parted from her mother for the first time in her
young life, among new scenes and strangers, and Cupid was knocking at
the door of her heart. Hitherto she had known only tranquil happiness
and little sorrow. How would it be now?