geraniums. And for all that day, whenever Cherry thought of Peter,
it was with his hands and even his face spattered with the dark
earth of the mountain garden. The thought gave her a genuine
thrill, and the next day she deliberately thought of him again,
but the thrill was not so keen, and gradually she forgot him.

But the letter stayed in her thoughts, and she began to hunger for
home. Nothing that Red Creek could offer shook her yearning for
the remembered sweetness and beauty of the redwoods, and the great
shade of the mountain. She wanted to spend a whole summer with
Alix.

She was athirst for home, for old scenes and old friends and old
emotions. She had only to hint to Alix to receive a love letter
containing a fervent invitation. So it was settled. With a sort of
feverish brevity Cherry completed her arrangements; Martin was to
use his own judgment in the matter of boarding or keeping the
flat. Some of their household goods were stored; Cherry told him
that she would come down in September and manage all the details
of settling afresh, but she knew that her secret hope was that she
might never see Red Creek again. It was all quickly arranged;
perhaps he was not sorry to have her go, although he kissed her
good-bye affectionately, and wandered away from the station in a
rather lonely frame of mind when she was gone.

A friend of his had asked him to dine that same evening, "with a
couple of queens." Martin had realized long ago, as Cherry did,
that their marriage was not an entirely successful one, but he
still considered her the most beautiful woman he had ever known,
and had never desired any other. But to-night he thought he would