free from daisies, and was as smooth as velvet.

Some lads were playing tennis there now, and a young lady in a gray
dress was sitting under a clump of lilacs, watching them. For a moment
Michael hesitated, thinking it was a stranger; but as she beckoned to
him, a sudden gleam came into his eyes, and he hastily crossed the lawn.

'I have been waiting for you; you are a little late, Michael,' she said,
as he shook hands with her. 'Mollie has gone out with mother; I asked
her to take my place.'

But he stood looking at her, and there was a strangely pleased
expression on his face.

'I did not know you,' he said, in a low voice; 'I thought it was a
strange young lady sitting on the bench. It was this, I suppose;' and he
touched her gown as he spoke.

Audrey coloured. The remark evidently pained her.

'I left off my black gown yesterday,' she replied hurriedly. 'I found
out that it troubled father, though he was too kind to tell me so. It
was Gage who spoke to me; she said that it was a pity to wear it so
long.'

'I don't see that Gage had any right to speak to you. It was your
affair, not hers.'

There was a trace of sharpness in Michael's tone, and the light had
faded out of his eyes. After all, there was no cause for him to rejoice;
she had not left off her mourning of her own accord. What a fool he had
been! Of course, she had only done it to please her father.

'No; it was kind of her to speak; and, after all, what does it matter?
Father seemed so relieved when I put on this, and I can remember Cyril
without the help of a black gown. It is better to please other people
than to please one's self, and after the first moment I did not mind.
Those boys are so noisy,' she continued in her ordinary manner, as
though she were not willing to discuss the subject more fully. 'Shall we
go to "Michael's bench"? Booty is making for that direction, as usual,
and the pond is so pretty this afternoon.'

'As you like,' he returned, a little moodily.

Strange to say, this little episode of the dress had upset his
equanimity, and he could not at once regain his old calmness. Had ever
any gown become her so well? he wondered, with the exaggeration natural
to a lover. She had a spray of laburnum in her hand, and the sunshine
seemed to thread her brown hair with gold. It seemed to him as though
there was a softer look in her gray eyes, as though his return were very
welcome to her.

'Michael,' she said suddenly, as they stoo