lly.

She walked with him to the door.

"What a day it has been," she laughed, catching her breath. "I feel as
though it had been weeks ago that we started off! I've forgotten how
wet we were," she pulled at her blouse. "Run away now, Peter, for I
must break the wonderful news to Aunt Milly and B'lindy, and, as
B'lindy would say--"there's a pile of work's got to be done!"

"Nancy, the day isn't over yet!" Peter hesitated. "There's going to
be a gorgeous sunset to-night--won't you come into the orchard--just
for a little while?"

"Silly--haven't you seen enough of me for one day?"

His look spoke more eloquently than could any words.

"_I_ have something to tell _you_!" he said, gravely.

CHAPTER XXIV

PETER

Nancy knew, with the instinct of a heart unfamiliar with coquetry, what
Peter had to tell her!

She had wanted dreadfully to have to stay away from the orchard--she
had hoped that Aunt Milly might need her, but Aunt Milly had gone to
bed directly after supper, exhausted by the day's happenings. Aunt
Sabrina's door had been shut ever since, with the wallet, she had gone
into her room, and from within no sound betrayed her tragedy. B'lindy
was fiercely struggling, with mop and broom, to remove all traces of
the "curse" from Happy House. "Now just keep out of my way! I'm that
upset," she answered Nancy, shortly.

The sunset was gorgeous. It flooded the garden with a soft, flaming
golden light.

Like all girls, Nancy had had her dream of that time when her Knight
should come riding to her; like all girls her dream-Knight was a
pleasantly hazy individual, changing with her changing moods. And she
had not wanted him to come quickly. Her young freedom was very
precious to her.

One or two others had proposed to Nancy in hot-headed, boyish fashion.
That had been part of girlhood's fun. One, a Junior, after begging her
to elope with him, had gone away crushed, and vengeful, only to send
her, two weeks later, a bunch of violets and a little note thanking her
for her "common-sense," explaining that "Pop had threatened to cut his
allowance in half unless he settled down and made his mid-years."

These had been boys; dear, sentimental, clean-hearted boys, but Peter
Hyde was different--

She had not dreamed of this--not for a moment, until she had seen it in
his eyes that afternoon as they sat under the maple tree with B'lindy's
lunch spread between them. He had been such a jolly comrade th