he idea that he was pretty well off, that he
owned more than a controlling interest in one of the richest gold mines
in Colorado. Undoubtedly there were girls who would jump at the chance
to marry the principal owner of a mine like the--

He stopped with a gasp.

Great Scott! she mustn't hear the name of that mine! At least, not
unless things turned out as they never could turn out. He groaned. He
would have to watch himself every minute when he was with her or he
would be blurting it out!

He found himself confronted by a fence, beyond which a wooded hill
sloped upward. Should he return the way he had come, or--no, he could
commit trespass on somebody's wheat field and so in all probability
reach the highway. Five minutes later he found himself on the road and
started back towards the cottage. He rather hoped that Miss Walton would
not be on her front porch as he went by. He wasn't quite ready yet to
show himself. It was a good ten minutes' walk to the end of the common,
but he was so busy with his thoughts that he paid little attention to
time or distance. He only came to himself when he suddenly found the
lilac hedge beside him and the gate hospitably open. He walked up the
steps, dimly conscious that his cottage looked this morning far less
disreputable than it had seemed yesterday, and tried the front door. He
didn't remember whether he had locked it last night. But evidently he
had not, for it swung open and he found himself staring blankly into a
pair of very lovely and much surprised blue eyes.

VI.

Time passed.

Somewhere about the house a canary twittered softly. Evelyn Walton,
arrested on the sitting room threshold, a fold of the light portiere
clasped in one hand, gazed at the intruder. Wade, frozen to immobility
just inside the door, one hand still grasping the knob, gazed at the
girl. His mind was a blank. His lips moved mechanically, but no words
issued from them. It seemed to him that whole minutes had passed,
although in reality the old-fashioned clock at the end of the hall had
ticked not more than thrice. He felt the color surging into his face,
and at last sheer desperation loosened his tongue.

"Is there anything I can do--" he began.

But at the very same moment Evelyn Walton's power of speech returned
likewise, and--

"You wished to see--some one?" she inquired.

As they spoke absolutely together neither heard the other's question
and each silently awaited an answer.

"_Tic