e tie, a white duck skirt and whitened shoes--a costume that set
off her pink cheeks and bright eyes.

Since the violent emotions of the fire at the Head, her courtship, and
her self-analyzation since her split with Nat, she had seemed to
become more of a woman.

Nat had not the slightest doubt but that Nellie by this time would
have recovered from her angry pet of their last interview. He was very
certain that their ruction had only been temporary.

Nellie was unfeignedly glad to see him.

He stretched out his arms to her impulsively, but she refused him, and
he laughed the rebuff off good-naturedly.

"Oh, did you bring any letters for me?" she cried eagerly.

He held out the two he had kept in his hand.

"Oh, goodness, Nat--only from mama and Lutie Bissell. You excited me
so!"

He spread a tarpaulin amid the clutter amidships and they sat down.

She excused herself and began to read her letters, first opening the
one from the girl friend, which, as such letters usually do, contained
nothing of importance. Then she opened the one from her mother. It was
long, and she settled back to the pleasure of deciphering it.

Nat smoked and whistled and looked out to sea, waiting for her to
finish. Therefore he did not observe the changes that passed across
her face. Near the middle of the letter the color rose to her forehead
in a hot wave, but at the end it had receded, leaving her pale.
Methodically she folded the letter and returned it to its envelope.

"Well, dearest," he said cheerfully, "all through? Now I want to talk
to you--" He reached for her hand, but she withdrew it beyond his
reach and looked at him with the steady brown eyes whose level gaze he
hated.

"Come on, now, Nellie," he said impatiently, stung by her relentlessness,
"you ain't goin' to be mad forever about that other time, are you? I was
out of temper an' said things--"

"Mother was up to Mallaby House for dinner a little while ago,"
interrupted Nellie, as though she had not heard him.

"Yes? That's good. Fine place, ain't it? As I was sayin', I forgot
myself--"

"They talked about us, too; mother says that's nearly all they talked
about."

"Must've been short of conversation. An' I want to say, Nellie, that
I'll try never to speak like that to you again. I--"

"Mother says she learned things about you that she never had
imagined before," persisted Nellie, with quiet insistence. But
again Nat did not seem to have heard her. With an a