matism? Father has it if he gets his toe damp."

"I'll get along all right," I replied. "There doesn't much rain strike
me, and I never had the rheumatism in my life."

I didn't tell her of the trouble with my breathing, and the attack that
would be almost sure to follow this exposure.

We both grew quiet after this, and listened to the swish of the rain and
the mighty howling of the wind. It had grown very dark, and the air was
chilly. The lightning was incessant, and traced zigzag pathways of fire
across the sombre heavens. The thunder was terrific, and often shook the
solid earth. I asked Salome if she was not afraid, but she laughed from
her snug retreat, and said she loved it all. What manner of girl was
this, who feared nothing, and who loved Nature even when she was at war
with herself?

The strife of the elements ceased as suddenly as it had begun. The
thunder rumbled away in the east; the rain stopped falling, and a rift
of blue showed through the dun masses overhead. This was followed by a
broad shaft of sunlight, which struck on the golden sea around us with a
shimmering radiance. I jokingly called Salome a "hayseed" when she
emerged from her shelter, for her brown hair was sprinkled with wisps of
straw. She ignored the epithet in her solicitation for my welfare, and
proceeded straightway to place her hand upon my shoulders and back to
see if I was wet.

"You're soaking!" she declared in genuine alarm. "You must have a hot
whiskey toddy and six grains of quinine the minute you get home!"

I made a wry face; but she only shook her head in a determined way, and
announced that she would see to it in person. As for herself, she was as
dry as a butterfly which had just emerged from a chrysalis, and I
congratulated myself upon the care I had taken of her. But before we
reached home she was in a plight almost equal to my own, for the wind
had blown the wheat across the path, and it was impossible for me to
remove it entirely.

As a consequence, her ladyship was at once hustled off to bed by good
Mrs. Grundy, and treated to the same remedy she had prescribed for me. I
took a rather stiff toddy, and changed my clothes, and felt no ill
effects from my experience.

After the first wild flush which had attended the discovery of the
awakening of my affection for this girl had subsided, I became, in a
degree, calmer. But it was there, deep in my soul, and I could feel it
growing, growing, as steadily as my heart w