ld, but Tom declined both, saying a hot bath
would set him all right. 'Good-bye, Annie. I'm awful sorry for the
sprain,' he said, offering her his hand; and as she took it in hers,
noticing about the wrist prints of his fingers which had grasped it so
tightly and held it so firmly as he dragged her along over stumps, and
bogs, and stones, until she sank at his feet, 'I guess I was a brute to
race her like that,' he said to himself, as he went out into the
darkness and started for home. 'But I didn't want to go with her. I
wanted to be with Jerrie, who, I have no doubt, went straight along,
without ever thinking of spraining her ankle, as Ann Eliza did. Poor
little foot! How swollen, though, it was when they got that boot off;
but she bore it like a major! Pity she has such all-fired red hair, and
piles it up like a haystack on the top of her head, with every hair
looking six ways for Sunday.'

At this point in his soliloquy Tom reached home, and was soon
luxuriating in a hot bath, which removed all traces of the soaking he
had received. That night he dreamed of Ann Eliza, and how light she was
in his arms, and how patient through it all, and that the magnificent
rooms at Le Bateau were all frescoed with diamonds and the floors inlaid
with gold. Then the nature of his dream changed, and it was Jerry he was
carrying in his arms, bending under her weight until his back was nearly
broken. But he did not heed it in the least, and when he bent to kiss
the face lying upon his bosom, where Ann Eliza had lain, he awoke
suddenly to find that it was morning and that the sun was shining
brightly into his room.

CHAPTER XXXVII.

UNDER THE PINES WITH DICK.

Jerrie was soaked through, but she did not sprain her ankle as Ann Eliza
had done. And yet, had she been given her choice, rather than inflict
the pain she did inflict upon poor Dick, she would have chosen the
former unhesitatingly, and felt herself happy in doing it. Like Tom and
Ann Eliza, she and Dick had run when they saw how fast the storm was
coming, but it was of no use, for by the time they entered the park, the
shortest route to the cottage, the rain came down in torrents, and
drenched them to the skin in a few moments. Jerrie's hat was wrenched
off, as Ann Eliza's had been by the wind, which tossed her long golden
hair in a most fantastic fashion. But Dick put his hat upon her head,
and would have given her his coat had she allowed it.

'No, Dick,' she said