of wood to-day, please!"

"In July! You hard-hearted little wretch! Do you want me reduced to a
pulp?"

She nodded. "Better that than burning like a bonfire. And better than
running the Imp sixty miles an hour. That doesn't help you,--it merely
helps your arch enemy fan the flames."

He laughed again, and the sound of his own laughter did him good,
according to the laws of Nature. "Bless you, you've put him to rout for
the moment at least, and that's more than any other human soul has ever
done for mine, before."

He kissed her, tenderly, and understanding what he did. In his heart he
adored her for the sweetness and sense which had kept her from taking
these days of trial as a personal affront and finding offence in them.

They went out to dinner, and Burns found himself somehow able to forget
sufficiently to enjoy the appetizing dishes which were served to him, and
to keep his brow clear and his mind upon the table talk. When he went
away, afterward, back to the scene of his irritation and anxiety, he bore
with him a peculiar sense of having his good genius with him, to help him
tend those devastating fires of temperament which when they burned too
fiercely could only hinder him in the fight he waged.

It was almost daybreak when he returned. Ellen was not asleep, although
she did not expect him to come upstairs, if only for fear of disturbing
her at that hour. But presently the cautious opening of her door caused
her to raise her head and lift her arms. Her husband came to her, and sat