ink nose into his palm.

John Valiant lifted his hand to stroke the shapely head, then drew it
back with an exclamation. A thorn had pricked his thumb. He looked down
and saw the draggled flower thrust through the twist of grass. "Oh, pup
of wonders!" he exclaimed. "Where did you get that rose?"

Chum sat up and wagged his tail, for his master's tone, instead of
ridicule, held a dawning delight. Perhaps the thing had not been
intended as a disgrace after all! As the careful hand drew the misused
blossom tenderly from its tether, he barked joyously with recovered
spirits.

With the first sight of the decoration Valiant had had a sudden memory
of a splotch of vivid red against the belted gray-blue of a gown. He
grinned appreciatively. "And I _warned_ her," he chuckled. "Told her not
to be afraid!" He dusted the blossom painstakingly with his handkerchief
and held it to his face--a live brilliant thing, breathing musk-odors of
the mid-moon of paradise.

A long time he sat, while the dog dozed and yawned on the shiny cushion
beside him. Gradually the clover-breeze fainted and the lengthening
shadows dipped their fingers into indigo. On the far amethystine peaks
of the Blue Ridge leaned milky-breasted clouds through which the sun
sifted in wide bars. A blackbird began to flute from some near-by tree
and across the low stone wall he heard a feathery whir. Of a sudden Chum
sat up and barked in earnest.

Turning his head, his master saw approaching a dilapidated hack with
side-lanterns like great goggles and decrepit and palsied curtains. It
was drawn by a lean mustard-tinted mule, and on its front seat sat a
colored man of uncertain age, whose hunched vertebrae and outward-crooked
arms gave him a curious expression of replete and bulbous inquiry.
Abreast of the car he removed a moth-eaten cap.

"Evenin', suh," he said,--"evenin', evenin'."

"Howdy do," returned the other amiably.

"Ah reck'n yo'-all done had er breck-down wid dat machine-thing dar.
Spec' er graveyahd rabbit done cross yo' pahf. Yo' been hyuh 'bout er
hour, ain' yo'?"

"Nearer three," said Valiant cheerfully, "but the view's worth it."

A hoarse titter came from the conveyance, which gave forth sundry
creakings of leather. "Huyh! Huyh! Dat's so, suh. Dat's so! Hm-m. Reck'n
Ah'll be gittin' erlong back." He clucked to the mule and proceeded to
turn the vehicle round.

"Hold on," cried John Valiant. "I thought you were bound in the other
direction."