ed her
breath she helped him in spite of his remonstrance. "Let me have all the
fun, too," she begged. "I haven't had a chance like this for four years.
I used to camp in flannels all summer long, in the roughest sort of
style, and loved it dearly. I could stand the tension of a long social
winter twice as well as the other women on account of it."

He understood, knowing that her husband had occupied a prominent
official position which called upon him to maintain a corresponding
place in the society of the city in which they had lived. Although he
knew her to be still under thirty, he realized that on account of her
early marriage she had had much experience in the world of affairs. It
was this aspect of her he had always borne in mind as he had seen her
before. Now he was beginning to recognize another side of her character
and tastes, a side which interested him even more than the other had
done.

Like a pair of children they collected their firewood, racing together
to the base of operations with armfuls of dry sticks. When there was
a big pile she surprised him by asking to be allowed to make the fire
herself.

"I'll prove to you I'm a woodsman," she asserted, and when she had
performed her task after the most approved fashion of the skilled
camper, he acknowledged that she had made good her boast. As the smoke
cleared away in the direction which left the view unobscured and the
spot he had selected for the lunching-place free from smoke, he grinned
approvingly.

"I've no doubt you could grill the steak and brew the coffee with equal
skill," he admitted, "but I'm not going to let you. That's my job. I
want to prove my prowess. Sit down on that log, please, and oversee me."

She watched with hungry interest while he also gave evidence of his
craft. It could hardly be the first time that a hamper had been packed
for him at the place in the city, for nothing he needed had been left
out, even to a big bottle of spring water with which to make the coffee.
When his work was nearly complete she spread a square of white linen
upon a flat rock and set forth the other contents of the hamper--olives
and bread and butter, crisp celery-hearts, and cream cheese and a tin
of biscuits. She heated the plates and cups before the fire, and as he
withdrew his steak from the coals she set a smoking hot platter before
him and offered him the materials for seasoning.

"You're a crack camper for sure," he declared. "Ah-h--does that