finger--and lay there, clear and sparkling as a diamond!

Norman Mann stooped and laid his hand over it. "You are glad, then!" "I
should be sorry to have you die," said Mae, but her dimples and blushes
and drooping eye-lids said, oh, a great deal more. "Good night," she
fluttered, and ran off.



CHAPTER X.


Mae dreamed happy dreams that night, and awoke with a smile on her lips.
She dressed with the greatest care, put a touch of the color Norman
liked at her throat, and fastened a charm he had given her to her
bracelet. Still, she loitered on her way to the breakfast-room, and when
she seated herself at the table, a sudden embarrassment made her keep
her eyes on her plate, or talk to Eric, or Edith, or any one but Norman.
Yet she was perfectly conscious of his every word and motion. She knew
he only took two cups of coffee instead of three, and that he helped her
to mandarins--a fruit of which she was very fond--five times, so that
she had a plate heaping with golden untouched balls before her. After
breakfast, she felt a great desire to run away, so she asked Eric to
take her to the Capitol, and leave her there for a time. "I want to
see something solid this morning, that has lasted a long while, and the
marbles will do me good."

Yes, Eric would take her at once. Would she go and get her hat? She
went for it, and scolded herself all the time for running away when she
wanted to stay home. Yet, after all, who dares put out one's hand to