ch of it as he dared
to them.

"Why don't you read on?" asked Eleanore, when he paused.

She bent over the table, filled with a burning curiosity to know the
whole contents of the letter, and while so doing her hair became
entangled in the metal bric-a-brac of the hanging lamp. Gertrude got up
and liberated her.

Daniel had laid his hand over the letter, and was looking at Eleanore
threateningly. His eye and that of the captured girl chanced to meet;
she struggled between a feeling of amusement and one of annoyance. It
gave Daniel an uncomfortable feeling to have her eyes so close to his.

"Don't you know that that is not polite?" he asked. "We have some
secrets, probably, Benda and I."

"I merely thought that Benda had sent me his greetings," replied
Eleanore, and blushed with embarrassment.

Daniel then held the letter above the chimney of the lamp, waited until
it had caught fire, and then threw it on the floor, where it burned up.

"It is late, and father is already waiting," said Eleanore, after they
had eaten in great haste.

"I will take you home," declared Daniel. Surprised by such unusual
gallantry, Eleanore looked at him with amazement. He at once became
moody; she was still more surprised. "I can go home alone, Daniel," she
said in a tone of noticeable seriousness, "you do not need to put
yourself out for me."

"Put myself out? What do you mean? Are you one of those people who can't
keep a tune, and step on the pedal when their sentiment runs short?"

Eleanore had nothing to say.

"Put your great coat on, Daniel," said Gertrude in the hall, "it is cold
and windy out."

She wanted to help him on with it, but he threw it in the clothes press;
he was irritated.

He walked along at Eleanore's side through the deserted streets.

She had already put the key in the front door, when she turned around,
looked up in a most unhappy way, and said: "Daniel, what in the world is
the matter with you? When I look at you, a feeling of anguish and
distress comes over me. What have I done that you should act so
disagreeably toward me?"

"Oh, forget it, think about something else, don't mention the subject
any more," said Daniel, in a rough, rude voice. But the glance she fixed
on him was so stern and unpitying, so testing and so un-girl-like, so
strong and so bold, that he felt his heart grow softer. "Let us take a
little walk," he said.

For a long time they paced back and forth in perfect silence. Then sh