occasion that provoked it. Without any fear of his adversary he would
have been content and quite willing to meet him no more. He only said,
"That will depend upon him."

"Oh, you won't hear from him again," said she, confidently, "but you
really ought to get up a little more muscle. You've no more than a
girl." She stopped, a little confused.

"What shall I do with your handkerchief?" asked the uneasy Cass, anxious
to change the subject.

"Oh, keep it, if you want to, only don't show it to everybody as you did
that ring you found." Seeing signs of distress in his face, she added:
"Of course that was all nonsense. If you had cared so much for the ring
you couldn't have talked about it, or shown it. Could you?"

It relieved him to think that this might be true; he certainly had not
looked at it in that light before.

"But did you really find it?" she asked, with sudden gravity. "Really,
now?"

"Yes."

"And there was no real May in the case?"

"Not that I know of," laughed Cass, secretly pleased.

But Miss Porter, after eying him critically for a moment jumped up and
climbed back again to her seat. "Perhaps you had better give me that