hey teach animals! I'm not a bit discouraged, are you?"

"Are we down-hearted?" he echoed in a spirit of bravado.

"Not a bit of it; now we'll dance together, and I'll try to pull you
around. There, put your arm around my waist,--that's right. Hold me
closer,--don't be afraid. Imagine I'm your sister if it will keep you
from being embarrassed. Left foot forward--ta, ta, ta, ta--that's
better. No, let me lead. There, we can go forwards and backwards anyway,
but you mustn't step on my feet. That's the first thing to learn,--dance
on your own feet."

"I beg your pardon--"

"That's all right; I don't mind it at all. But when we stop dancing,
you know, you must take your arm away from my waist. How quickly you
overcame that early embarrassment!"

"I don't intend to give you another chance to suggest that I'm afraid,"
Cosden retorted. "I may not know much about girls or dancing, but if you
think I haven't nerve enough to put my arm around your waist,--well,
it's up to me to demonstrate."

"You bold, bad man!" Edith pointed her finger at him in mock-reproach.
"I sha'n't dare go on with the lesson until I've forgotten your
threatening attitude! Now let's see if a little turn on the piazza won't
give us courage to continue."

Cosden assented with alacrity. "Splendid notion!" he exclaimed; "that
will give me a chance to cool off."

"You are warm," she admitted, looking him over critically and noting
that his collar was completely wrecked. "You must read the Polite Book
of Dancing Etiquette--"

"Oh, Lord!" Cosden groaned.

"You will find there many useful suggestions which will add to your
popularity with your partners. For instance, it tells you that when
overheated by the exercise you should stand erect and throw your chin
out; then the perspiration will run down the back of your neck and be
less noticeable.--Come now, see what a light Bermuda breeze will do to
cheer you up."

Edith was well pleased with the results of the first lesson. She had
felt some misgivings, for Cosden was the most masterful man she had ever
met. If this masterfulness could not be broken down, then her plans
could not be carried out; but she recalled the fact that Henry Thatcher,
so pliable in his wife's hands, was spoken of as dictatorial and
self-confident in his business relations. If this was true of Thatcher,
it might be equally true of Cosden, and the experiment was well worth
trying. In the hour just past Edith had proved her sagacit