porch. I knocked. Mama came and unlocked the door and went back. 'Good
night,' said I. But Dave wouldn't move. He was so afraid that he had
spoiled things for Bud. I stood there and thought a while. It came to me
that it might not be wise to treat Bud's first attempt to say what I was
willing for him to say, too coolly. And yet I didn't want to appear too
anxious. You know what I mean," said Foresta appealingly.

"I understand you, perfectly, though my time hasn't come yet," said the
young woman.

"So I stood on the porch," continued Foresta, "looking away from Dave,
thinking and thinking how I could save myself and not hurt Bud too much.
Womanlike, I suppose, I decided to make a sacrifice of myself. I opened
my door a little. Quick as a flash, but so he could plainly see what I
was doing, I threw a kiss and darted in the house. Dave fairly flew to
where Bud was waiting for him. Dave told Bud all about it and the two
boys liked to have hugged each other to death. Dave having opened the
way, Bud grew bolder very fast. After everything was understood between
us and the time set, Bud told me all about the trick. And I boxed his
ears for him. If you are here I want you to come to my and Bud's
wedding."

Foresta now arose to go. Holding up a finger of warning, she said, "We
haven't told the old folks yet."

CHAPTER IV.

_The Ways of A Seeker After Fame._

This world of ours, thought of in comparison with man the individual, is
so very, very large; its sons and daughters departed, now on hand and
yet to come, form such an innumerable host; the ever-increasing needs of
the living are so varied and urgent; the advance cry of the future
bidding us to prepare for its coming is so insistent; the contest for
supremacy, raging everywhere, must be fought out among so many souls of
power--these accumulated considerations so operate that it is given unto
but a few of those who come upon the earth to obtain a look of
recognition from the universal eye; and fewer still are they who, by
virtue of inherited capacity, proper bent, necessary environment and the
happy conjunction of the deed and the hour, so labor as to move to
admiration, sympathy or reverence the universal heart, an achievement,
apart from which no man, however talented, may hope to sit among the
earth's immortals.

The fact that enduring world prominence is an achievement rarely and
with great difficulty attained operates upon different individuals in
dif