icably elated.

"I feel quite guilty about this morning," Eve was saying. "I'm afraid I
wasn't very polite. Did I--did I smile?"

"If you didn't, you were a saint," answered Wade. "It's a wonder to me
you didn't howl!"

"It was funny, though, wasn't it? Now that it's all over, I mean; now
that I've apologized and Carrie has apologized for me and you've
apologized. You did look so--so utterly dumfounded!"

"I was!" replied Wade grimly. "For a moment I thought I'd had a
sunstroke or something and was out of my head. At first, when I came in
and saw you standing there, I thought--it was a foolish thing to think,
of course--but I thought you had come to call on me!"

"Again?"

"Again? I'm afraid I don't--"

"Now let's be honest, Mr. Herrick. You did see me the--the first time,
didn't you?"

"Just as you wish," laughed Wade. "I did or I didn't."

"You did. I wish you hadn't, but I know you did. I wonder what you
thought of me!"

"I--there wasn't much chance to think anything," answered Wade
evasively. "You didn't stay long enough."

"I was going by and saw the windows open and couldn't think what to make
of it, you see," she explained. "The cottage has been closed up so long
that it was quite breath-taking to see it open. My only idea was that it
was being aired out. So I thought I'd take a peep. I wanted to see
inside, for once I spent a whole day there with Aunt Mary, when I was
just a little bit of a girl, and I wondered whether it would look the
same. If you think you were surprised this morning when you came in and
found me confronting you, what do you suppose I was when I looked in
that window and right into your face? Don't you think we're quits now?"

"I reckon we are. Only you didn't make such an ass of yourself as I did.
You had presence of mind to get away. In fact you got away so quick I
wasn't sure whether I'd seen you or just imagined you. If I hadn't found
a lilac bloom on the ground out there I reckon I'd have been sort of
worried about myself."

"Did I drop it?"

"You must have. You're fond of it, aren't you?" He nodded at the tiny
spray tucked in the front of her white gown.

"Very. And I'm always sorry when it goes. This, I fear, is the very
last. It was later this year than usual; last summer it was almost all
gone when we got here."

"It's awfully sweet," said Wade. "Driving into the village the other day
the fragrance was almost the first thing that struck me. I reckon when I
go ba