mpliment is not nearly so pretty as the sunrise one," said
Mollie reflectively. "Mrs. Palmer has told me things about you," she
added.

"Curiosity knows no gender," hinted Murray.

"She said you were good-looking and lazy and different from other
people."

"All compliments," said Murray in a gratified tone.

"Lazy?"

"Certainly. Laziness is a virtue in these strenuous days, I was not
born with it, but I have painstakingly acquired it, and I am proud of
my success. I have time to enjoy life."

"I think that I like you," said Mollie.

"You have the merit of being able to enter into a situation," he
assured her.

When the last Jersey was milked they carried the pails down to the
spring where the creamers were sunk and strained the milk into them.
Murray washed the pails and Mollie wiped them and set them in a
gleaming row on the shelf under a big maple.

"Thank you," she said.

"You are not going yet," said Murray resolutely. "The time I saved you
in milking three cows belongs to me. We will spend it in a walk along
the pond shore. I will show you a path I have discovered under the
beeches. It is just wide enough for two. Come."

He took her hand and drew her through the copse into a green lane,
where the ferns grew thickly on either side and the pond waters
plashed dreamily below them. He kept her hand in his as they went down
the path, and she did not try to withdraw it. About them was the
great, pure silence of the morning, faintly threaded with caressing
sounds--croon of birds, gurgle of waters, sough of wind. The spirit of
youth and love hovered over them and they spoke no word.

When they finally came out on a little green nook swimming in early
sunshine and arched over by maples, with the wide shimmer of the pond
before it and the gold dust of blossoms over the grass, the girl drew
a long breath of delight.

"It is a morning left over from Eden, isn't it?" said Murray.

"Yes," said Mollie softly.

Murray bent toward her. "You are Eve," he said. "You are the only
woman in the world--for me. Adam must have told Eve just what he
thought about her the first time he saw her. There were no
conventionalities in Eden--and people could not have taken long to
make up their minds. We are in Eden just now. One can say what he
thinks in Eden without being ridiculous. You are divinely fair, Eve.
Your eyes are stars of the morning--your cheek has the flush it stole
from the sunrise-your lips are redder than th