"I have been driving all over the country looking for you," said a
man's voice. "I have some Christmas traps for the kids."

Lucy rose hastily, and turned just as Redding entered.

"Mr. Bob, this is Miss Lucy," announced Mrs. Wiggs, triumphantly;
"she was jes' 'lowin' she'd like to see you."

If a blue-eyed angel straight from the peaks of paradise had been
presented to him, Redding could not have been more astounded nor
more enraptured.

But to Lucy it was a moment of intense chagrin and embarrassment.
During the long silence of the past year she had persuaded herself
that Redding no longer cared for her. To be thrust upon him in this
way was intolerable. All the blood in her veins rushed to her face.

"Do you know where my muff is, Mrs. Wiggs?" she asked, after a
formal greeting.

"Oh! you ain't a-goin'?" asked the hostess, anxiously. "I wanted you
all to git acquainted."

"Yes, I must go," said Lucy, hurriedly, "if you will find my muff."

She stood nervously pulling on her gloves, while Mrs. Wiggs searched
for the lost property. There was a deafening tumult in her heart,
and though she bit her lips to keep from laughing, the tears stood
in her eyes.