m her cousins' stable.

Her clear, pale cheeks bore an unwonted flush and her eyes were dancing
when she came face to face with Starr Wiley around a bend in the bridle
path. Willa would have passed him with a gay little nod, but he reined
in his horse and, wheeling, fell into pace beside her.

"May I take the trail for a little way with you?" he asked. "Glorious
morning, isn't it?"

"Yes." She smiled, but the brightness had fled from her face and her
eyes narrowed as she gave him a side-long glance. "I didn't know you
were given to an appreciation of them, though. What brings you out so
early?"

"Do you want a confession? It was with the hope of meeting you that I
came. One can see you alone so seldom in these crowded days, and I
want to grasp every opportunity. Can you blame me?"

"Your judgment, perhaps. My cousin is a far more attractive spectacle
than I, Mr. Wiley."

"Still unkind!" he exclaimed ruefully. "I have told you, I have
explained and you will not believe me? Willa, you cannot have
forgotten the other evening, you know what I feel toward you. You
permitted me to tell you and you said that at least I might hope.
Don't taunt me, dear! It's scarcely fair, is it?"

"I gave you no assurance, Mr. Wiley." Her eyes opened very wide upon
him. "You were well supplied with that. I was careful not to commit
myself in any way, if you remember. You were in my cousin's house and
I listened to learn just how far your effrontery would carry you. It
was scarcely an open game, I admit, but it was your deal and you
weren't playing exactly fair yourself, were you?"

"I was sincere." His voice shook, but not with tenderness. "You led
me on; you played with me from the first!"

"On the contrary, I refused to play with you at all, but you would not
be convinced. Let us understand each other, Mr. Wiley. Your
protestations are distasteful to me, and there is no longer need of
pretense between us. I will be civil when occasion requires, but
friendship between us would be an impossibility, and I beg that you
will not force me to be more rude to you than you have made necessary
now."

"So," he remarked quietly. "We have done with pretense, have we? I
will meet your frankness, then. I have offered you all that a man can
offer a woman in devotion, but you have thrust it from you. Now I have
another kind of a proposition to discuss with you, and I am prepared to
offer terms. I want to know where yo