alone, I can go back to the house again."

Sly Katie!

It was marvellous the way the look of misery fled from his face, while
the sudden growth of his friendliness was nothing less than
astounding. Taking her little hand in his he shook it repeatedly, and
impressed upon her, over and over again, that he had never been more
surprised in his life.

Suddenly she put on a most serious look, and leaning back against the
fence, looked up into his face and said gravely: "Even if you don't
dance, Vital, I think it was a little rude of you to leave the house
for so long, and scarcely speak to anyone the whole evening. And the
way you acted, too, at dinner, Vital! I can't understand it."

In the happiness of having Katie near him, he had forgotten all about
the scene he had witnessed near the great birch tree, and the dreadful
words that had floated to him, and had almost stopped the beating of
his heart. Of course, she was his brother's now. How foolishly he had
been acting, and how painful to her must have been his extravagant joy
at seeing her. The reference she had made to the dinner made his
humiliation still keener to bear, for he thought she alluded to his
unhappy speech.

The sudden flight of happiness from his face made her own grow grave,
and she drew a little closer to him; but in his humiliation he did not
notice it. He thought she was haughtily waiting for him to speak. In
his quaint halting English he began to tell her that he feared he had
been most discourteous. The truth was he had "not meant to stay away