to let her pass in he paused and waited for her to raise her eyes to
his. She did it much against her will. He spoke then as if they two
were all alone in the world together.

"It is true that you have not known me long. But I have known you for
some time. I saw you leave Green Valley one summer night last year and
I came from the West two months before I should have just to see if you
got safely back at lilac time."

At that Nanny's eyes lost all their careful pride and he saw them
lovely with surprise. So he explained.

"I was standing on the back platform of the Los Angeles Limited the
night you went East with your father."

Then a smile that the Lord gives only now and then, to a man that He is
sure He can trust, flitted over the tall boy's face as he added:

"And the very first evening I came back to Green Valley I held you in
my arms--rescued you."

He laughed boyishly, plaguing her. But she stood motionless with
amazement,--too angry to say a word. When that smile came her anger
faded. Through her heart there flashed the mad conviction, through her
mind the certain knowledge, that for her in the time to come the height
of bliss would be to cry in this strange man's arms.

Then she recollected herself and flamed with shame so bitter that her
lower lip quivered and she hoped he would ask her again to call him
John so that she could make him pay for her momentary madness.