When I went back
to the hotel I asked Mrs. Allardyce if she knew who the boarders at
Fir Cottage were and she told me. I had heard Connie speak of you, and
I determined to make your acquaintance."

When we reached the lane I held out my hand for the hymnal.

"You mustn't come any further, Mr. Shelmardine," I said hurriedly.
"Aunt--Aunt might see you."

He took my hand and held it, looking at me seriously.

"Suppose I were to walk up to the cottage tomorrow and ask for you?"

I gasped. He looked so capable of doing anything he took it into his
head to do.

"Oh, you wouldn't," I said piteously. "Aunt Martha would--you are not
in earnest."

"I suppose not," he said regretfully. "Of course I would not do
anything that would cause you unpleasantness. But this must not--shall
not be our last meeting."

"Aunt will not let me come to church again," I said.

"Does she ever take a nap in the afternoon?" he queried.

I wriggled my parasol about in the dust uneasily.

"Sometimes."

"I shall be at the old boat tomorrow afternoon at two-thirty," he
said.

I pulled my hand away.

"I couldn't--you know I couldn't," I cried--and then I blushed to my
ears.

"Are you sure you couldn't?" bending a little nearer.

"Quite sure," I murmured.

He surrendered my hymnal at last.

"Will you give me a rose?"

I unpinned the whole cluster and handed it to him. He lifted it until
it touched his lips. As for me, I scuttled up the lane in the most
undignified fashion. At the turn I looked back. He was still standing
there with his hat off.

July Twenty-fourth.

On Monday afternoon I slipped away to the shore while Aunt Martha and
Mrs. Saxby were taking their regular nap and I was supposed to be
reading sermons in my room.

Mr. Shelmardine was leaning against the old boat, but he came swiftly
across the sand to meet me.

"This is very kind of you," he said.

"I ought not to have come," I said repentantly. "But it is so lonely
there--and one can't be interested in sermons and memoirs _all_ the
time."

Mr. Shelmardine laughed.

"Mr. and Mrs. Allardyce are on the other side of the boat. Will you
come and meet them?"

How nice of him to bring them! I knew I should like Mrs. Allardyce,
just because Aunt Martha didn't. We had a delightful stroll. I never
thought of the time until Mr. Shelmardine said it was four o'clock.

"Oh, is it so late as that?" I cried. "I must go a