t going to bother about you, Ray; I'm
going to think of myself and do everything I can to get his friendship
on my own account. If I can do that for a start, I shall be satisfied."

"And so shall I," declared Ernest. "Because it wouldn't stop at that.
If you succeed, then much may come of it. In my case, I can't lift his
guarded friendship for me into enthusiasm. He associates me with
learning to read and other painful preliminaries to life. Moreover, I
have tried to awaken his moral qualities and am regarded with the
gravest suspicion in consequence. But you come to him freshly and won't
try to teach him anything. Join him in his pleasure and add to it all
you can. There is nothing that wins young creatures quicker than sharing
their pleasures, if you can do so reasonably and are not removed so far
from them by age that any attempt would be ridiculous. Fifteen and
twenty-seven may quite well have a good deal in common still, if
twenty-seven is not too proud to confess it."

CHAPTER XII

THE PICNIC

For a long day Estelle devoted herself whole-heartedly to winning the
friendship of Abel Dinnett. Her chances of success were increased by an
accident, though it appeared at first that the misadventure would ruin
all. For when Estelle arrived at 'The Magnolias' in her pony carriage,
Sabina proved to be sick and quite unequal to the proposed day in the
air.

Abel declined to go without his mother, but, after considerable
persuasion, allowed the prospect of pleasure to outweigh his distrust.

Estelle promised to let him drive, and that privilege in itself proved a
temptation too great to resist. His mother's word finally convinced him,
and he drove an elderly pony so considerately that his hostess praised
him.

"I see you are kind to dumb things," she said. "I am glad of that, for
they are very understanding and soon know who are their friends and who
are not."

"If beasts treat me well," he answered, "then I treat them well. And if
they treated me badly, then I'd treat them badly."

She did not argue about this; indeed, all that day her care was to amuse
him and hear his opinions without boring him if she could avoid doing
so.

He remained shy at first and quiet. From time to time she was in a fair
way to break down his reserve; but he seemed to catch himself becoming
more friendly and, once or twice, after laughing at something, he
relapsed into long silence and looked at her from under his eyelids
susp