was forced to own, as she now for the first
time regarded him attentively, that he did not seem to be wrought of the
stern stuff out of which, as a rule, champions are made.

As she thus looked upon him, she was startled to find that he was
looking very fixedly upon her; and she was further startled, as their
eyes met, by the appearance upon his face of a friendly smile. She would
have been vastly surprised had she been aware that this little person
labored under the belief that he had already effected a favorable
lodgement in her good graces; and she would have been both surprised
and horrified could she have known that each of her own strictly
confidential smiles during her day-dream had been accepted by the
commercial traveller as intended for himself; and had been met, as they
successively appeared, by his own smiles in answer. Yet this was the
actual state of the case; and the little man's soul was uplifted by the
thought that here was a fresh proof, and a very pleasant one, of how
irresistible were his personal appearance and his personal charm of
manner when arrayed in battery against any one of the gentler sex.

Viewed from the stand-point of his experience, this inquiring look
and its attendant eye-encounter indicated that the moment for more
pronounced action now had arrived. With the assured air of one who
possibly may be repulsed, but who certainly cannot be defeated, he arose
from his seat, crossed to Miss Grace Winthrop's section, and, with a
pleasant remark to the effect that in travelling it always was nice to
be sociable, edged himself into the seat beside her.

For a moment, the insolent audacity of this move was so overwhelming
that Grace was quite incapable of coherent expression. The lovely pink
of her cheeks became a deep crimson that spread to the very tips of her
ears; her blue eyes flashed, and her hands clinched instinctively.

"Looked like a perfect little blue-eyed devil," the drummer subsequently
declared, in narrating a highly-embellished version of his adventure,
"but she didn't mean it, you know--at least, only for a minute or two. I
soon combed her down nicely." What he actually said, was:

"Been travellin' far, miss?"

"What do you mean by this? Go away!" Grace managed to say; but she could
not speak very clearly, for she was choking.

"Come, don't get mad, miss! I know you're not mad, really, anyway. When
a woman's as handsome as you are, she can't be bad-natured. Come from
Cali