y arrived home Albert was on the piazza and Aunt Susan had
supper waiting. The table was set with blue ware of a very old and
quaint pattern, and when Alice had filled a bowl with lilies for a
centrepiece they gathered around and "passed things" in true country
fashion. The evening was unusually warm for June, and after the two
young men had smoked and chatted for half an hour, Alice appeared
dressed in spotless white, with a half-open lily in her hair and another
at her throat. The moon, which was nearing its full, shone through the
open spaces of the vine-clad porch and added an ethereal touch to the
sylph-like picture she presented, and one that was certainly not lost
upon Frank at least.

"Well," she remarked cheerfully, as she seated herself near her brother,
"my time is yours, and what can I do to entertain you?"

"I had planned to take Frank to a trout brook to-morrow morning,"
responded Albert, "and in the afternoon you and he can hunt for
mill-ponds and grottoes if you like, or gather laurel."

"And leave me alone all the forenoon!" put in Alice. "No, thank you. I'm
shut up for five days and you can't get rid of me so easily. Why can't I
go too?"

"I'm agreeable," replied her brother, "only a trout brook is not nice
walking for a lady."

"I'm aware of that," she responded, "and you two can go fishing and I'll
hunt for laurel in the meantime. We can take a basket of lunch with us
and make a day of it in the woods." Then, as a possible contingency
presented itself to her, she added, "Why not let me invite my friend,
Abby Miles, to go for company? She and I can pick laurel, and when you
have caught all the harmless little trout you want, we can meet where we
leave the wagon and have a picnic."

"That suits me," said her brother, and without waiting for further
discussion this diplomatic fairy in white arose and remarked, "I'll get
a shawl, and then I'll trouble you, Mr. Nason, to escort me over to
Abby's. It's only a few rods, and I want you to meet her. She's ever so
nice."

From this it may be inferred that our "Sweet Alice" had resolved to
protect herself against any romantic _tete-a-tetes_ in the woods with a
certain well-intentioned but presuming young man who might desire to
play Romeo.

This was not quite to his taste, but he had the good sense not to show
it, and all the next day he divided his attentions impartially between
the two young ladies. The plan as mapped by Alice was carried out to the