times," she admitted.

"What do you do for recreation?"

"I don't think I know what you mean, Mr. Marche."

"I mean for pleasure."

She looked at him out of her clear, gray eyes, then turned her gaze on
the window. But she could not see through it; the pane only reflected
her face darkly; and to her, for a moment, it seemed that way with her
whole pent-up life, here in the Virginia marshes--no outlet, no outlook,
and wherever she turned her wistful eyes only her own imprisoned self to
confront her out of the dull obscurity.

"I suppose," he said, watching her, "that you sometimes go to Norfolk
for a holiday?"

"No."

"Or to Old Point, or Baltimore, perhaps?"

She had her under lip between her teeth, now, and was looking so fixedly
at the window that he thought she had not heard him.

He rose from the table, and as she turned to meet his pleasant eyes he
smilingly thanked her for waiting on him.

"And now," he said, "if you will say to your father that I'd like to
have a little talk with him----"

"Father is ill in bed," she said, in a low voice.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I hope it isn't anything serious."

"I--think not."

"Will he be able to see me to-morrow?"

"I am afraid not, Mr. Marche. He--he asked me to say to you that you
might safely transact any business with me. I know all about it," she
said, speaking a little hurriedly. "I keep the accounts, and I have
every item and every bill ready for your inspection; and I can tell you
exactly what condition the property is in and what lumber has been cut
and what repairs have been necessary. Whenever you are ready for me, I
will come into the sitting room," she added, "because Jim and I have had
our supper."

"Very well," he said, smiling, "I am ready now, if you are."

So she went away to rinse her hands and lay aside her apron, and in a
few minutes she entered the sitting room. He rose and placed a chair for
her, and she thanked him, flushing a little, and then he resumed his
seat, watching her sorting over the papers in her lap.

Presently she crossed one knee over the other, and one slim, prettily
shaped foot, in its shabby shoe, swung clear of its shadow on the floor.
Then she handed him a sheaf of bills for his inspection, and, pencil in
hand, followed the totals as he read them off aloud.

For half an hour they compared and checked off items, and he found her
accounts accurate to a penny.

"Father bought three geese and a gander from Ike Helm,"