ofness was discouraging to this hope;
nevertheless, his heart worked in an extra beat or two, as he considered
the added relish his luncheon would have, garnished by occasional
glances at such a delightful _vis-a-vis_. Meanwhile, he was careful
to take his cue from her; his face, likewise, expressed a blank.

The farmer and his wife became very uncomfortable. Simple souls, they
could not understand how a personable youth and a charming girl should
sit opposite each other with such wooden faces. Their feeling was that
at quarters so close extra sociability was demanded, and the utter lack
of it caused them to move uneasily in their chairs, and gently perspire.
They unconsciously hastened to finish, and having at length dutifully
polished their plates, arose and left the cabin with audible sighs of
relief.

This was a contingency Garth had not foreseen, and his heart jumped. At
the same time he felt a little sorry for the girl. He wondered if she
would consider it an act of delicacy if he fastened the door open with
a chair. On second thoughts, he decided such a move would be open to
misconstruction. Had he only known it, she was dying to laugh and, at
the slightest twinkle in his eyes, would have gone off into a peal. Only
Garth's severe gravity restrained her--and that in turn made her want to
laugh harder than ever. But how was Garth to learn all that? Girls, more
especially girls like this, were to him insolvable mysteries--like the
heavenly constellations. Of course, there are those who pretend to have
discovered their orbits, and have written books on the subject; but for
him, he preferred simply to wonder and to admire.

Since her arrival the objective point of his desire shifted from his
plate some three feet across the table; he now gazed covertly at her
with more hunger than he evinced for his food. She had a good deal the
aspect of a plucky boy, he thought; a direct, level gaze; a quick, sure
turn to her head; and the fresh, bright lips of a boy. But that was no
more than a pleasant fancy; in reality she was woman clear through. Eve
lurked in the depths of her blue eyes, for all they hung out the colours
of simple honesty; and Eve winked at him out of every fold of her rich
chestnut hair. She was quick and impulsive in her motions; and although
she showed such a blank front to the man opposite, her lips flickered
with the desire to smile; and tiny frowns came and went between the
twin crescents of her brows.