first shoots and
sproutings of baby leaves from the branches casting a delicate tracery
of shadow on the golden-green shimmer of the grass. Through an open
gate they shot, he close behind, out upon a hard metallic roadway of
macadam. Here Mary Louise reined in her horse and Joe instantly drew
up alongside.

"It's lucky the street came along to help," he breathed. "Twenty yards
more----"

Mary Louise reached up a hand to her hair in a futile effort to stem
the havoc there. A moment of furious attempt to quiet the racing in
her veins, and then, quite calmly, "It's all as it should be. We've
got to look out for such things and take advantage of them. There are
no ifs and buts about being caught. You didn't--that's all."

Joe opened his mouth to speak, stared at her a moment, and then turned
away his eyes. They trotted along in silence, the shadows deepening
and lengthening.

Directly: "When does your tea room open?"

"To-morrow. I'll be fine and stiff to start it off." Both question and
answer had taken on a fine flavour of impersonality. Quiet again, with
only the clatter of hoofs on the roadway. Directly they turned a wide
sweeping curve and before them appeared a wooden gateway set at the
end of an avenue of elms, at the other end of which showed, dim and
forbidding, a house with columns and a green roof. Joe dismounted and,
unlatching the gate, turned and stood grinning at her.

"So you're really goin' to try it out?" His voice had the quality of
self-questioning.

It broke in on her musings and she seemed a bit impatient. "Of course
I'm going to try it out. Only there isn't much 'try' to it. It's bound
to make a go."

"Some little difference between a merely commercial proposition and a
popular charity like the Red Cross. There's no percentage in just
guzzlin' tea for fun unless you're doin' it to keep Americans from
starvin' or doughboys from itchin'. You know what I believe?" He
turned on her suddenly. "You're just scrapin' up an excuse to--to----"
He stammered, hesitated in indecision. "Tea!"

"Don't be maudlin, Joe!" Her tone was very cold. "If you must know, we
need the money and----Well, I guess I learned enough about _tea_ and
_tea rooms_ in the past ten or eleven months to know whether one will
pay or not--if it's properly run. Got awfully hardboiled while you
were in the army, didn't you? Come, open the gate."

He was silent. Mary Louise usually could put him in his place. But
thus put in his pl