go from motives of convenience,
and still adhered to, in spite of later inventions, which would
certainly be a better protection from the sun. I must plead guilty, I
fear, to a little obstinacy in my partiality for that old hat."

"Why not confess, Miss Gertrude, that you wear it in order to look
fanciful and picturesque, so that the neighbours' slumbers are disturbed
by the thoughts of it? My own morning dreams, for instance, are so
haunted by that hat, as seen in company with its owner, that I am daily
drawn, as if by magnetic attraction, in the direction of the garden. You
will have a heavy account to settle with Morpheus, one of these days,
for defrauding him of his rights; and your conscience too will suffer
for injuries to my health, sustained by continued exposure to early
dews."

"It is hard to condemn me for such unintentional mischief; but since I
am to experience so much future remorse on account of your morning
visits, I shall take upon myself the responsibility of forbidding them."

"Oh, you wouldn't be so unkind!--especially after all the pains I have
taken to impart to you the little I know of horticulture."

"Very little I think it must have been; or I have but a poor memory,"
said Gertrude, laughing.

"Have you forgotten the pains I took yesterday to acquaint you with the
different varieties of roses? Don't you remember how much I had to say
of damask roses and damask bloom; and how before I finished, I could not
find words enough in praise of blushes, especially such sweet and
natural ones as met my eyes while I was speaking?"

"I know you talked a great deal of nonsense. I hope you don't think I
listened to it all."

"Oh, Miss Gertrude! It is of no use to say flattering things to you; you
always regard my compliments as jokes."

"I have told you, several times, that it was most useless to waste so
much flattery upon me. I am glad you are beginning to realise it."

"Well, then, to ask a serious question, where were you this morning at
half-past seven?"

"On my way to Boston in the cars."

"Is it possible?--so early! Why, I thought you went at ten. Then, all
the time I was watching by the garden wall to say good-morning, you were
half-a-dozen miles away. I wish I had not wasted that hour so; I might
have spent it in sleeping."

"Very true, it is a great pity."

"And then half-an-hour more here this evening! How came you to keep me
waiting so long?"

"I was not aware of doing so. I cert