dolite, through which they were squinting over the buildings and
the slope of the land, he left her abruptly. With a hoe in his hand he
crept forward, taking his place behind a clump of syringa that grew near
the gate, ready to strike if either of the lads ventured to put foot on
his property. It was the situation at which, according to light-hearted
Jim Breen, you would have died laughing; but Lois had difficulty in
keeping back her tears.

She found Rosie in the hothouse, of which the interior corresponded to
the gash in the roof. All the smaller plants had been removed,
disclosing the empty, ugly, earth-stained, water-stained wooden
stagings. Only some half-dozen fern-trees remained of all the former
beauty.

But even here Rosie was at work, sitting at the old desk, which,
deprived of its sheltering greenery, was shabbier than ever, making out
bills. There was still money owing to her father, and it was important
that it should be collected. Over and over again she wrote her neat
"Acct. rendered," while she added as a postscript in every case: "Please
remit. Going out of business."

And yet, if there was anything on the dilapidated premises that could
cheer or encourage it was Rosie. With the enforced rest and seclusion
following on her fruitless dash to escape, her prettiness had become
more delicate, less worn. Shame at her folly had put into her greenish
eyes a pleading timidity which became a quivering, babyish tremble when
it reached the lips. The contrast which the girl thus presented to her
parents, as well as something that was visibly developing within her,
enabled Lois to affirm that which hitherto she had only hoped or
suspected, that the wild leap into the pond had worked some mysterious
good.

Like her father and mother, Rosie had little to say. The meeting was
embarrassing. There were too many unuttered and unutterable thoughts on
both sides to make intercourse easy or agreeable. All they could achieve
was to be sorry for each other, in a measure to respect each other, and
to make up by an enforced, slightly perfunctory, good will for what they
lacked in the way of spontaneity.

Lois took the chair on which Rosie had been seated at the desk, while
Rosie leaned against a corner of the empty staging. It furnished the
latter with something to say to be able to tell the new plans of the
family. Her father had taken a job with Mr. Breen. It wouldn't be like
managing his own place, but it would be bette