house," he thought, and was hurrying away, when she called to him. He
retraced his steps and stood before her.

"Sit down, Vital."

This time he had not made a mistake; there was something in the tone
of her voice which made him tremble with happiness. Willingly he
obeyed the invitation.

For a few moments she sat and twined her fingers together nervously.
She knew how dear she was to him, and wanted to make amends.

"I have been very cruel to you to-night, Vital," she began in a low,
uneven tone.

Wrathfully he began to deny such an outrageous statement.

"I thought you would like to know," she continued, falteringly, when
his indignation had somewhat subsided, "that you are mistaken in that
about Zotique and me; we are not engaged. I--I--told him, no." It was
hard to tell him this; but she had treated him so very badly and had
taken such an unfair advantage of his trusting nature.

The sudden relief from the restraint he had borne so long made him
lose command of himself altogether. He sprang quickly to his feet, and
looking down at the fair averted face, said, with the love-light
beaming in his eyes, "I love you, too, Katie." It was only after the
words were spoken that he realized his amazing boldness. As he stood
abashed, a warm, sweet hand crept into his. The daring fellow held it
tightly!

"I can't tell you how glad I am that you love me, for I love you,
too." In the twinkling of an eye he was sitting by her side.

"Once agin bow to de ladies!" And to think that he should ever have
thought Magloire Meloche had a coarse voice, and that his fiddle was
always out of tune! He had sorely maligned him. When they married, he
decided mentally, he should have Magloire play at the wedding.

A laudable feeling of pity for the other little hand, which looked so
lonely on the bench there, caused him to reach over and take
possession of it, too. Then Katie made a full confession of her
duplicity. She told him how she had seen the seat he had been saving
for her the moment she entered the kitchen, but had wilfully pretended
not to notice it in order to tease him. As for his speech, she was
sure it had sounded as sweet to everyone at the table as it had to
her, for they all knew that he had fully meant all the kindly things
he had said about Zotique. His heart beat riotously as he heard her
tell how badly she had been crowded at the table, and how all the time
she had longed to be sitting next to him. When she declar