passed away to other things. That little Yankee girl
had really made good sport all the way home. He had not been dull for a
moment; she had teased and provoked him so. Her eyes, too, were
wonderfully pretty, and her small, pointed chin, and her witch-like
imperious ways. Was it her money, the sense that she could do as she
liked with most people, that made her so domineering and masterful? Very
likely. On the journey he had put it down just to a natural and very
surprising impudence. That was when he believed that she was a teacher,
earning her bread. But the impudence had not prevented him from finding
it much more amusing to talk to her than to anybody else.

And, on the whole, he thought she had not disliked him, though she had
said the rudest things to him, and he had retaliated. She had asked him,
indeed, to join them in an excursion the following day, and to tea at
the Country Club. He had meant, if possible, to go back to New York on
the morrow. But perhaps a day or two longer----

So she had a million--the little sprite? She was and would be a
handful!--with a fortune or without it. And possessed also of the most
extraordinary opinions. But he thought he would go on the excursion, and
to the Country Club. He began to fold his mother's letter, and put it
back into its envelope, while a slight flush mounted in his cheeks, and
the young mouth that was still so boyish and candid took a stiffer line.

CHAPTER III

"Is Miss Floyd at home?"

The questioner was Mrs. Verrier, who had just alighted from her carriage
at the door of the house in Columbia Avenue inhabited by Miss Floyd and
her chaperon.

The maid replied that Miss Floyd had not yet returned, but had left a
message begging Mrs. Verrier to wait for her. The visitor was
accordingly ushered to the drawing-room on the first floor.

This room, the staircase, the maid, all bore witness to Miss Floyd's
simplicity--like the Romney dress of Mount Vernon. The colour of the
walls and the hangings, the lines of the furniture, were all subdued,
even a little austere. Quiet greens and blues, mingled with white,
showed the artistic mind; the chairs and sofas were a trifle stiff and
straight legged; the electric fittings were of a Georgian plainness to
match the Colonial architecture of the house; the beautiful
self-coloured carpet was indeed Persian and costly, but it betrayed its
costliness only to the expert. Altogether, the room, one would have
said, of