d she had been so lonely, and so dull.

"How nice of you," she said; "with the Attraction gone. But Martha
seems to have had a premonition of your coming. She has just brought
out tea, most suggestively arranged for two. How festive you are, Boy!
Why this wedding attire? Are you coming from, or going to, a function?
No? Then don't you want tennis after tea--a few good hard sets; just
we two, unhandicapped by our dear little Mollie?"

"No," said the Boy; "talk, please, to-day; just we two, unhandicapped
by our dear little Mollie. Talk please; not tennis."

He paused beside the border, full of mauve and purple flowers. "How
jolly those little what-d'-you-call-'ems look, in the sunshine," he
said.

Then the Aunt noticed that he wore no buttonhole, and that his tie was
lavender. She picked four of her little violas, and pinned them into
his coat.

"Boy dear," she said, "you are a dandy in the matter of ties and
buttonholes; only it is so essentially _you_, that one rather enjoys
it. But this is the first day I have known you to arrive without one,
and have need to fall back upon my garden."

"It _is_ a first day," said the Boy, dropping into step with her, as
she moved toward the mulberry tree. "It starts a new regime, in the
matter of buttonholes, and--other things. I am going to have seven
days, and this is the first."

"Really?" smiled the Aunt, amused at the Boy's intense seriousness. "I
am flattered that you should spend a portion of 'the first day' with
me. Let us have tea, and then you shall tell me why seven days; and
where you mean to pass them."

The Boy was rather silent during tea. The Aunt, trying to read his
mind, thought at first that he regretted his flannels, and the chance
of tennis; then that he was missing Mollie. Whereupon the Aunt
repeated her remark that it was nice of him to come, now the Attraction
was no longer there.

This gave him the cue for which he waited. His cup was empty, and
safely on the grass. The floodgates of the Boy's pent-up love and
longing burst open; the unforgettable words, "It was always you I
wanted," were spoken; and now he waited for her, under the mulberry
tree. She had something to tell him; but, whatever it might be, it
could not seriously affect the situation. _He_ had told _her_--that
was the great essential. He would win her in seven days. Already she
knew just what he wanted--a big step for the first day. He looked up,
and saw her comi