table holding his attention as a spectacle. Afterwards he sat
with the family on the lawn outside the door, breathing the odor of
flowers, watching the stars over the trees, listening to Jotham and
Mrs. Blue, to Samuel, Benjamin, David, Marietta and occasionally Angela.
Because of his mood, sad in the face of exquisite beauty, she also was
subdued. She said little, listening to Eugene and her father, but when
she did talk her voice was sweet.

Jotham arose, after a time, and went to bed, and one by one the others
followed. David and Marietta went into the sitting room and then Samuel
and Benjamin left. They gave as an excuse hard work for the morning.
Samuel was going to try his hand again at thrashing. Eugene took Angela
by the hand and led her out where some hydrangeas were blooming, white
as snow by day, but pale and silvery in the dark. He took her face in
his hands, telling her again of love.

"It's been such a wonderful day I'm all wrought up," he said. "Life is
so beautiful here. This place is so sweet and peaceful. And you! oh,
you!" kisses ended his words.

They stood there a little while, then went back into the parlor where
she lighted a lamp. It cast a soft yellow glow over the room, just
enough to make it warm, he thought. They sat first side by side on two
rocking chairs and then later on a settee, he holding her in his arms.
Before supper she had changed to a loose cream colored house gown. Now
Eugene persuaded her to let her hair hang in the two braids.

Real passion is silent. It was so intense with him that he sat
contemplating her as if in a spell. She leaned back against his shoulder
stroking his hair, but finally ceased even that, for her own feeling was
too intense to make movement possible. She thought of him as a young
god, strong, virile, beautiful--a brilliant future before him. All these
years she had waited for someone to truly love her and now this splendid
youth had apparently cast himself at her feet. He stroked her hands, her
neck, cheeks, then slowly gathered her close and buried his head against
her bosom.

Angela was strong in convention, in the precepts of her parents, in the
sense of her family and its attitude, but this situation was more than
she could resist. She accepted first the pressure of his arm, then the
slow subtlety with which he caressed her. Resistance seemed almost
impossible now for he held her close--tight within the range of his
magnetism. When finally she felt