rise again. Katy's life should not be
darkened by the green monster, he thought, and her future would have
been bright indeed had it proved all that he pictured it as he drove
along with Morris in the direction of the farmhouse, for he was to stop
there first and then at night go over to sleep at Linwood.

Katy was waiting for him, and as he met her alone, he did not hesitate
to kiss her more than once as he kept her for a moment in his arms, and
then held her off to see if her illness had left any traces upon her. It
had not, except it were in the increased delicacy of her complexion and
the short hair now growing out in silky rings. She was very pretty in
her short hair, but Wilford felt a little impatient as he saw how
childish it made her look, and thought how long it would take for it to
attain its former length. He was already appropriating her to himself,
and devising ways of improving her. In New York, with Morris Grant
standing before his jealous gaze, he could see no fault in Katy, and
even now, with her beside him, and the ogre jealousy gone, he saw no
fault in her; it was only her dress, and that could be so easily
remedied. Otherwise she was perfect, and in his delight at meeting her
again he forgot to criticise the farmhouse and its occupants, as he had
done before.

They were very civil to him--the mother overwhelmingly so--insomuch that
Wilford could not help detecting her anxiety that all should be settled
this time. Helen, on the contrary, was unusually cool, confirming him in
his opinion that she was strong-minded and self-willed, and making him
resolve to remove Katy as soon as possible from her strait-laced
influence. When talking with his mother he had said that if Katy had
told him "yes," he should probably place her at some fashionable school
for a year or two; but on the way to Silverton he had changed his mind.
He could not wait a year, and if he married Katy at all, it should he
immediately. He would then take her to Europe, where she could have the
best of teachers, besides the advantage of traveling; and it was a very
satisfactory picture he drew of the woman whom he should introduce into
New York society as his wife, Mrs. Wilford Cameron. It is true that Katy
had not yet said the all-important word, but she was going to say it,
and when late that afternoon they came up from the walk he had asked her
to take, she was his promised wife.

They had sat together on the very rock where Katy sat