s sensible of a certain confusion, at
which he was slightly astonished. He did not remember having been
readily subject to fits of embarrassment when in England, though there
he had never served as porter to people of his own walk in life.
Turning away, he collected a waterproof carry-all, a big rubber ground
sheet, another parasol, a sketching stool, and a collapsible easel,
which also appeared to be damaged. Then as he knelt down and roped
them and the valise together he looked at the girl.

"I'm afraid Miss Kinnaird will be a little angry, for I think that
easel thing won't open out," he said. "I'm awfully sorry."

Now "awfully sorry" is not a western colloquialism, and the girl
looked at him attentively. She liked his voice, and she rather liked
his face, which, since he had not been called the Kid for nothing, was
ingenuous. She laughed a little. Then she remembered something she had
noticed.

"Well," she observed, "I suppose you couldn't help it. That load was
too heavy; and aren't you a little lame?"

"Not always," said Weston. "I cut my foot a little while ago. If it
hadn't been for that I shouldn't have fallen down and broken Miss
Kinnaird's things."

"And mine!"

"And yours," admitted Weston. "As I said, I'm particularly sorry.
Still, if you will let me have the bag afterward I can, perhaps, mend
the lock. You see, I assisted a general jobbing mechanic."

Ida Stirling flashed a quick glance at him. He had certainly a
pleasant voice, and his manner was whimsically deferential.

"Why didn't you stay with him?" she asked. "Mending plows and wagons
must have been easier than track-grading."

Weston's eyes twinkled.

"He said I made him tired; and the fact is I mended a clock. That is,
I tried--it was rather a good one when I got hold of it."

The girl laughed, and the laugh set them on good terms with each
other. Then she said:

"That load is far too heavy for you to climb over these boulders with
when you have an injured foot. You can give me the valise, at least."

"No," said Weston, resolutely, "this is a good deal easier than
shoveling gravel, as well as pleasanter; and the foot really doesn't
trouble me very much. Besides, if I hadn't cut it, Cassidy wouldn't
have sent me here."

He was, however, mistaken in supposing that the construction foreman
had been influenced only by a desire to get rid of a man who was to
some extent incapacitated. As a matter of fact, Miss Stirling, who had
been r