pot for a tennis-court. The invitation was accepted with
alacrity, for tennis, she declared, was a passion with her.

The selection of that tennis-court took nearly an hour, for there were
several good places for one and it was hard to make a selection;
besides, I could not lose the opportunity of taking Miss Vincent into
the woods and showing her the walks I had made and the rustic seats I
had placed in pleasant nooks. Of course she would have discovered
these, but it was a great deal better for her to know all about them
before she came. At last Mrs. Vincent sent a maid to tell her daughter
that it was time to go for the train, and the court had not been
definitely planned.

The next day I went to Miss Vincent's house with a plan of the grounds,
and she and I talked it over until the matter was settled. It was
necessary to be prompt about this, I explained, as there would be a
great deal of levelling and rolling to be done.

I also had a talk with the old gentleman about books. There were
several large boxes of my books in New York which I had never sent out
to my country house. Many of these I thought might be interesting to
him, and I offered to have them taken out and left at his disposal.
When he heard the titles of some of the books in the collection he was
much interested, but insisted that before he made use of them they
should be catalogued, as were the rest of my effects. I hesitated a
moment, wondering if I could induce Barker to come to New York and
catalogue four big boxes of books, when, to my surprise, Miss Vincent
incidentally remarked that if they were in any place where she could
get at them she would be pleased to help catalogue them; that sort of
thing was a great pleasure to her. Instantly I proposed that I should
send the books to the Vincent house, that they should there be taken
out so that Mr. Vincent could select those he might care to read during
the summer, that I would make a list of these, and if Vincent would
assist me I would be grateful for the kindness, and those that were not
desired could be returned to the storehouse.

What a grand idea was this! I had been internally groaning because I
could think of no possible pretence, for further interviews with Miss
Vincent, and here was something better than I could have imagined. Her
father declared that he could not put me to so much trouble, but I
would listen to none of his words, and the next morning my books were
spread ov