amed that
strangers should see her kiss him. Harold had forgotten that incident,
which at the time had made no impression upon him, and was now thinking
only of the beautiful girl whose presence seemed to brighten and ennoble
everything with which she came in contact, and to whom he at last said
good-bye, just as Peterkin's tower clock struck for half-past five.'

'I _must_ go now,' he said, taking up his basket of brushes. 'I have
lost a full half-hour with you, and your steaks, and your coddling me
generally. I ought to have been there by this time. Good-bye,' and
offering her his hand, he started down the lane at a rapid pace,
thinking the morning the loveliest he had ever known, and wondering why
everything seemed so fresh, and bright, and sweet.

If he could have sung, he would have done so, but he could not, and so
he talked to himself, and to the birds, and rabbits, and squirrels,
which sprang up before him as he struck into the woods as the shortest
route to Mr. Allen's farm house--talked to them and to himself of
Jerrie, and how delightful it was to have her home again, unspoiled by
flattery, sweet and gracious as ever, and how he longed to tell her of
his love, but dared not yet until he was surer of her and of what she
felt for him. He had no faith now in her fancies with regard to herself.
Of the likeness to Arthur, which he thought he saw the previous there
had been no trace on the face which had almost touched his that morning
when he pinned the rose upon her bib. She was not--could not be
Gretchen's daughter, and was undoubtedly the child of the woman found in
the Tramp House--his Jerry, whom he had found, and claimed as his own,
and whom he meant to win some day, when he had his profession, and was
established in business. 'But that will be a long, long time, and some
one else may steal her from me,' he said to himself, sadly, as he
thought of the years which must elapse before he could venture to take a
wife. 'Oh, if I were sure she cared for me a little, as I do for her, I
would ask her now and have it settled; for Jerrie is not a girl to go
back on her promise, and the years would seem so short, and the work so
easy, with Jerrie at the end of it all,' he continued, and then he
wondered how he could find out the nature of Jerrie's feeling for him
without asking her directly, and so spoiling everything if he should
happen to be premature.

Would his grandmother know? Not at all likely. She was too old