then he had cherished it--and another extra stamp in his pocket. And
now, with this strong but gossamer-like snell, this new hook, and this
freshly cut hickory rod, he would make the trial!

But fate was against him! He had scarcely descended the narrow trail to
the pine-fringed margin of the stream before his quick ear detected an
unusual rustling through the adjacent underbrush, and then a voice that
startled him! It was HERS! In an instant all thought of sport had fled.
With a beating heart, half opened lips, and uplifted lashes, Leonidas
awaited the coming of his divinity like a timorous virgin at her first
tryst.

But Mrs. Burroughs was clearly not in an equally responsive mood. With
her fair face reddened by the sun, the damp tendrils of her unwound hair
clinging to her forehead, and her smart little slippers red with dust,
there was also a querulous light in her eyes, and a still more querulous
pinch in her nostrils, as she stood panting before him.

"You tiresome boy!" she gasped, holding one little hand to her side as
she gripped her brambled skirt around her ankles with the other. "Why
didn't you wait? Why did you make me run all this distance after you?"

Leonidas timidly and poignantly protested. He had waited before the
house and on the hill; he thought she didn't want him.

"Couldn't you see that THAT MAN kept me in?" she went on peevishly.
"Haven't you sense enough to know that he suspects something, and
follows me everywhere, dogging my footsteps every time the post comes
in, and even going to the post-office himself, to make sure that he sees
all my letters? Well," she added impatiently, "have you anything for me?