in danger." And then, "You know
_you're_ not so bad lookin' yourself, Mr. Nichols!"

"Stop teasing, Beth."

"I won't."

"I'll make you." He moved a step toward her.

"Maybe I hadn't better come any more," she said quizzically.

"Beth!"

"Suppose I _was_ learnin' to love you a little," she went on ironically,
"with you scared I might be--and not knowin' how to get out of it.
Wouldn't that be terrible! For me, I mean. 'She loved and lost, in seven
reels.'"

She was treading on precarious ground, and she must have seen her danger
in Peter's face, for as he came toward her she turned and ran down the
path, laughing at him. Peter followed in full stride but she ran like a
deer and by the time he had reached the creek she was already halfway
over the log-jam below the pool. Her laugh still derided him and now,
eager to punish her, he leaped after her. But so intent he was on
keeping her in sight upon the farther bank that his foot slipped on a
tree trunk and he went into the water. A gay peal of laughter echoed in
his ears. And he caught a last glimpse of her light frock as it vanished
into the underbrush. But he scrambled up the bank after her and darted
along the path--lost her in the dusk, and then deep in the woods at one
side saw her flitting from tree to tree away from him. But Peter's blood
was now warm with the chase--and it was the blood of Peter Nicholaevitch
too. Forgotten were the studious hours of patience and toil. Here was a
girl who challenged his asceticism--a beautiful young female animal who
dared to mock at his self-restraint. She thought that she could get
away. But he gained on her. She had stopped laughing at him now.

"Beth! You little devil!" he cried breathlessly, as he caught her. "You
little devil, I'll teach you to laugh at me."

"Let me go----"

"No----"

He held her in his arms while she struggled vainly to release herself.
Her flushed face was now a little frightened and her large blue eyes
stared in dismay at what she saw in his face.

"Let me go?" she whispered. "I didn't mean it----"

But he only held her closer while she struggled, as he kissed her--on
the brows, the chin, the cheeks, and as she relaxed in sheer
weakness--full on the lips--again--again.

"Do you think I haven't been trying to keep my hands off you all these
weeks?" he whispered. "Do you think I haven't wanted you--to teach you
what women were meant for? It's for this, Beth--and this. Do you think
I haven'