followed the zigzag course of the raindrop with
her finger.

"I wouldn't have very much to say," she said, speaking with a little
hesitation, and without looking around. "Max and I never do much."

"Oh, you can tell how your work goes, and what you do nights."

"We don't do much of anything. Max studies some at night--a man he used to
work for gave him a book of civil engineering."

"What do you do?"

"I read some, and then I like to learn things about--oh, about business,
and how things are done."

Bannon could not take his eyes from her--he was looking at her hair, and
at the curved outline of one cheek, all that he could see of her face.
They both stood still, listening to the patter of the rain, and to the
steady drip from the other end of the office, where there was a leak in
the roof. Once she cleared her throat, as if to speak, but no words came.

There was a stamping outside, and she slipped back to the ledger, as the
door flew open. Bannon turned to the blue prints.

Max entered, pausing to knock his cap against the door, and wring it out.

"You ought to have stayed out, Mr. Bannon," he said. "It's the greatest
thing you ever saw--doesn't sag an inch. And say--I wish you could hear
the boys talk--they'd lie down and let you walk on 'em, if you wanted to."

Max's eyes were bright, and his face red with exercise and excitement. He
came to the gate and stood wiping his feet and looking from one to the
other for several moments before he felt the awkwardness that had come
over him. His long rubber coat was thrown back, and little streams of
water ran down his back and formed a pool on the floor behind him.

"You'd better come out," he said. "It's the prettiest thing I ever saw--a
clean straight span from the main house to the tower."

Bannon stood watching him quizzically; then he turned to Hilda. She, too,
had been looking at Max, but she turned at the same moment, and their eyes
met.

"Do you want to go?" he said.

She nodded eagerly. "I'd like to ever so much."

Then Bannon thought of the rain, but she saw his thought as he glanced
toward the window, and spoke quickly.

"I don't mind--really. Max will let me take his coat."

"Sure," said Max, and he grinned. She slipped into it, and it enveloped
her, hanging in folds and falling on the floor.

"I'll have to hold it up," she said. "Do we have much climbing?"

"No," said Max, "it ain't high. And the stairs are done, you know."

Hilda lifted