Watts's success. We knew, of course, he could do it if he cared to, but
he seemed to think the attempt hardly worth the making, and so we did
not know if he would try."

Peter breathed more easily. She had not asked a question, and the
intonation of the last sentence was such as left him to infer that it
was not his turn to say something; which, Peter had noticed, was the way
in which girls generally ended their remarks.

"Oh, look at that absurd looking cow," was her next remark, made before
Peter had begun to worry over the pause.

Peter looked at the cow and laughed. He would like to have laughed
longer, for that would have used up time, but the moment he thought the
laugh could be employed in place of conversation, the laugh failed.
However, to be told to look at a cow required no rejoinder, so there was
as yet no cause for anxiety.

"We are very proud of our roads about here," said Miss Pierce. "When we
first bought they were very bad, but papa took the matter in hand and
got them to build with a rock foundation, as they do in Europe."

Three subjects had been touched upon, and no answer or remark yet forced
upon him. Peter thought of _rouge et noir_, and wondered what the odds
were that he would be forced to say something by Miss Pierce's next
speech.

"I like the New England roadside," continued Miss Pierce, with an
apparent relativeness to the last subject that delighted Peter, who was
used by this time to much disconnection of conversation, and found not a