She brought her hands together to emphasize her
statement.

"Is he? I'm glad. You see I'm quite out of breath. I didn't wait for the
elevator, but ran upstairs. I was so pleased at being sent for." He
dropped his hat and overcoat. "Yes, I should say he is nice! I don't
seem to recognize all of these," waving his handkerchief about at the
flowers.

"Yes, he brought them himself, in a big box. He brought lots with him
besides flowers. Oh, lots of things! The old Moonstone feeling,"--Thea
moved her hand back and forth in the air, fluttering her fingers,--"the
feeling of starting out, early in the morning, to take my lesson."

"And you've had everything out with him?"

"No, I haven't."

"Haven't?" He looked up in consternation.

"No, I haven't!" Thea spoke excitedly, moving about over the sunny
patches on the grimy carpet. "I've lied to him, just as you said I had
always lied to him, and that's why I'm so happy. I've let him think what
he likes to think. Oh, I couldn't do anything else, Fred,"--she shook
her head emphatically. "If you'd seen him when he came in, so pleased
and excited! You see this is a great adventure for him. From the moment
I began to talk to him, he entreated me not to say too much, not to
spoil his notion of me. Not in so many words, of course. But if you'd
seen his eyes, his face, his kind hands! Oh, no! I couldn't." She took a
deep breath, as if with a renewed sense of her narrow escape.

"Then, what did you tell him?" Fred demanded.

Thea sat down on the edge of the sofa and began shutting and opening her
hands nervously. "Well, I told him enough, and not too much. I told him
all about how good you were to me last winter, getting me engagements
and things, and how you had helped me with my work more than anybody.
Then I told him about how you sent me down to the ranch when I had no
money or anything." She paused and wrinkled her forehead. "And I told
him that I wanted to marry you and ran away to Mexico with you, and that
I was awfully happy until you told me that you couldn't marry me
because--well, I told him why." Thea dropped her eyes and moved the toe
of her shoe about restlessly on the carpet.

"And he took it from you, like that?" Fred asked, almost with awe.

"Yes, just like that, and asked no questions. He was hurt; he had some
wretched moments. I could see him squirming and squirming and trying to
get past it. He kept shutting his eyes and rubbing his forehead. But
when I told