knit, lounging figure with a straw hat drawn well down
over the eyes, and a pipe thrust between the teeth.

As Ruth gazed upon this negligent apparition, it suddenly moved, and the
next instant it stood up in the sunshine and faced her, hat in one hand,
pipe in the other.

"Mornin'" said Tots. "Got somethin' nice for breakfast?" His brown face
smiled imperturbably upon her. He looked pleased to see her, but not
extravagantly so.

Ruth fell back a step from the window, her roses clutched fast against
her. She was for the moment speechless.

Tots continued to smile sociably.

"Nice, quiet little place--this," he said. "There's a touch of the
antediluvian about it that I like. Good idea of yours, comin' here. No
one to get in the way. It won't be disturbin' you if I sit on the
window-sill while you have your breakfast?"

Ruth experienced a sudden, hysterical desire to laugh. He was beyond
her, this man--utterly, hopelessly beyond her.

She sat down at the table, not with the idea of eating anything, but
from a sense of sheer helplessness. Tots knocked the ashes from his pipe
and took his seat on the window-sill. He did not seem to be aware of any
strain in the situation.

After a pause, during which Ruth sat motionless, he turned a little to
survey her.

"Not begun yet?" he queried.

She looked back at him with a species of desperate courage.

This sort of thing could not go on. She must be brave for once.
Unconsciously she was still gripping the roses with both hands.

"Mr. Waring--" she began.

"Tots," he substituted gently.

"Well--Tots," she repeated unwillingly, "I--I want to ask you
something."

"Fire away!" said Tots.

"I want to know--I want to know--" She stumbled again, and broke off in
distress.

Tots wheeled round as he sat, and brought his long legs into the room.

"Please don't," she begged hastily. "I--I want you inside."

He did not retire again, nor did he advance.

"You want to know--" he said.

With a stupendous effort she faced and answered him.

"I want to know what made you ask me to marry you."

Tots did not at once reply. He sat on his perch with his back to the
light, and contemplated her.

"I should have thought a clever little girl like you might have guessed
that," he said at length.

This was intolerable. She felt her courage ebbing fast.

"I'm not clever," she said, a desperate quiver in her voice, "and I--I'm
not good at guessing riddles."

In the silence