ght enough left to show the color in the girl's
cheek. "Well," she added, "I told Allen he was sure to be the first."

Agatha looked at her in evident bewilderment, but she nodded. "Yes," she
said, "of course, I knew it would come. Everybody knows by now that you
have fallen out with Gregory."

"But, as I told you, I haven't fallen out with him."

"You certainly haven't married him, and if you have said 'No' to Harry
Wyllard because you would sooner take Gregory after all, you're a
singularly unwise young woman. Anyway, you'll have to meet Harry when he
comes to supper. Allen's fond of a talk with him; I can't have him kept
away."

"I was a little afraid of that," replied Agatha slowly. "What makes the
situation more difficult is that he told me he would ask me again."

Mrs. Hastings was thoughtful for a moment. "In that case he will in all
probability do it; but I don't think you need feel diffident about
meeting him, especially as you can't help it. He'll wait and say nothing
until he considers it advisable."

She changed the subject, and talked about other matters until they
reached the homestead.

As the weeks went by Agatha found that what Mrs. Hastings had told her
was warranted. Wyllard drove over every now and then, but she was
reassured by his attitude. He greeted her with the quiet cordiality
which had hitherto characterized him, and it went a long way towards
allaying the embarrassment of which she was conscious at first. By and
by, however, she felt no embarrassment at all, in spite of the
disturbing possibility that he might at some future time once more adopt
the role of lover.

In the meanwhile, she realized that despite the efforts she made to
think of him tenderly she was drifting further apart from Gregory. She
had two other offers of marriage before the wheat had shot up a hand's
breadth above the rich black loam. This was a matter of regret to her,
and, though Mrs. Hastings assured her that the "boys" would get over it,
she was rather shocked to hear that one of them had shortly afterwards
involved himself in difficulties by creating a disturbance in Winnipeg.

The wheat, however, was growing tall when, at Mrs. Hastings' request,
Agatha drove over to Willow Range. Wyllard was out when they reached the
homestead, and leaving Mrs. Hastings and his housekeeper together, the
girl wandered out into the open air. She went through the birch bluff
and towards the slough, which had almost dried up n