ich
trembled a little in spite of the confidence he had felt beforehand.

I fancy I can see Anthy, too, as she stood facing him there at the foot
of the stairs in the old hallway, with the flower-filled urns on the
wall paper. So much of the thing in her eyes as she looked at him
whimsically, it must have been, and yet kindly, Ed could never have
understood. He could never have understood the other Anthy, the Anthy
whose letters to Mr. Lincoln lie here in my desk.

I am not clear as to exactly what happened next, and no more, I think,
was Ed; but he went out and down the steps without having told Anthy
what his "proposition" was, and firmly believing that she did not know
how dangerously near he had come to committing himself. Women know how
to do these things. Ed did not rush away as Nort had done, nor fall over
the honeysuckle bush, nor lose his hat--nor his head. Not Ed! But as he
walked back home a faint suspicion began to rankle in his soul that his
course might not be as clear as he had supposed.

The most irresistible man to women is the one who seems to know least
that they are women at all. But Ed Smith was not of this sort. Ed's
practical thoughts were ever hanging about the idea of marriage. He fell
more or less deeply in love with every pretty girl he met, made
elaborately gallant speeches, brought her flowers, pop corn, and chewing
gum, tried to hold her hand, and began, warily, to consider her as a
prospective Mrs. Smith, weighing her qualifications, quite sensibly, for
that responsible position. Oh, Ed had been a good deal of a "lady's man"
in his time: knew well his many qualifications, and often congratulated
himself that he would never be "caught" until he was "good and ready."
There was more than one girl--he had only to "crook his finger."

While he was away he began to think of Anthy. She was somehow different
from any girl he had ever known. He couldn't quite understand why it
was, but there was something about her, even though she might be a
little "slow" and "quiet" for a man like him. And the more he thought of
her the more excellent reasons occurred to him for yielding to his
feelings. She was the owner of the _Star_, which was already beginning
to show signs of vigorous life, and she was a "mighty smart girl" into
the bargain. She would be an ornament to any man's house.

It was the vague glimmer of the new idea that any girl should not wish
to become Mrs. Smith when she was given a fair o