er part
to act as if she knew! With a lighter heart, then, he began his story.

"You want it from the beginning?"

"By all means! I never dip into books, nor peek at the ending. I don't
think it's fair to the author."

"Then I will, indeed, begin at the beginning," smiled Arkwright, "for
I'm specially anxious that you shall be--even more than 'fair' to me."
His voice shook a little, but he hurried on. "There's a--girl--in it; a
very dear, lovely girl."

"Of course--if it's a nice story," twinkled Billy.

"And--there's a man, too. It's a love story, you see."

"Again of course--if it's interesting." Billy laughed mischievously, but
she flushed a little.

"Still, the man doesn't amount to much, after all, perhaps. I might as
well own up at the beginning--I'm the man."

"That will do for you to say, as long as you're telling the story,"
smiled Billy. "We'll let it pass for proper modesty on your part. But I
shall say--the personal touch only adds to the interest."

Arkwright drew in his breath.

"We'll hope--it'll really be so," he murmured.

There was a moment's silence. Arkwright seemed to be hesitating what to
say.

"Well?" prompted Billy, with a smile. "We have the hero and the heroine;
now what happens next? Do you know," she added, "I have always thought
that part must bother the story-writers--to get the couple to doing
interesting things, after they'd got them introduced."

Arkwright sighed.

"Perhaps--on paper; but, you see, my story has been _lived_, so far. So
it's quite different."

"Very well, then--what did happen?" smiled Billy.

"I was trying to think--of the first thing. You see it began with a
picture, a photograph of the girl. Mother had it. I saw it, and wanted
it, and--" Arkwright had started to say "and took it." But he stopped
with the last two words unsaid. It was not time, yet, he deemed, to tell
this girl how much that picture had been to him for so many months past.
He hurried on a little precipitately. "You see, I had heard about this
girl a lot; and I liked--what I heard."

"You mean--you didn't know her--at the first?" Billy's eyes were
surprised. Billy had supposed that Arkwright had always known Alice
Greggory.

"No, I didn't know the girl--till afterwards. Before that I was always
dreaming and wondering what she would be like."

"Oh!" Billy subsided into her chair, still with the puzzled questioning
in her eyes.

"Then I met her."

"Yes?"

"And she was everyth