she dropped back again and began to milk determinedly,
but Murray could have sworn that he saw a demure smile hovering about
her lips. That, and the revelation of her full face, decided him. He
sprang over the fence and sauntered across the intervening space of
lush clover blossoms.

"Good morning," he said coolly. He had forgotten her other name, and
it did not matter; at five o'clock in the morning people who met in
dewy clover fields might disregard the conventionalities. "Isn't it
rather a large contract for you to be milking seven cows all alone?
May I help you?"

Mollie looked up at him over her shoulder. She had glorious grey eyes.
Her face was serene and undisturbed. "Can you milk?" she asked.

"Unlikely as it may seem, I can," said Murray. "I have never confessed
it to Mrs. Emory, because I was afraid she would inveigle me into
milking her fourteen cows. But I don't mind helping you. I learned to
milk when I was a shaver on my vacations at a grandfatherly farm. May
I have that extra pail?"

Murray captured a milking stool and rounded up another Jersey. Before
sitting down he seemed struck with an idea.

"My name is Arnold Murray. I board at Sweetbriar Cottage, next farm to
Orchard Knob. That makes us near neighbours."

"I suppose it does," said Mollie.

Murray mentally decided that her voice was the sweetest he had ever
heard. He was glad he had arranged his cow at such an angle that he
could study her profile. It was amazing that Mrs. Palmer's niece
should have such a profile. It looked as if centuries of fine breeding
were responsible for it.

"What a morning!" he said enthusiastically. "It harks back to the days
when earth was young. They must have had just such mornings as this in
Eden."

"Do you always get up so early?" asked Mollie practically.

"Always," said Murray without a blush. Then--"But no, that is a fib,
and I cannot tell fibs to you. The truth is your tribute. I never get
up early. It was fate that roused me and brought me here this morning.
The morning is a miracle--and you, I might suppose you were born of
the sunrise, if Mrs. Palmer hadn't told me all about you."

"What did she tell you about me?" asked Mollie, changing cows. Murray
discovered that she was tall and that the big blue print apron
shrouded a singularly graceful figure.

"She said you were the best-looking girl in Bruce county. I have seen
very few of the girls in Bruce county, but I know she is right."

"That co