sure I sha'n't marry you just because a lot of your ancestors want me
to. ... Folks don't fall in love to order--and you can put this away
carefully in your mind--when I marry it will be because I've fallen
in love."

"You're very like your father," he said.

"Rushing in where angels fear to tread, you mean? Yes, dad's more
direct than diplomatic, and I inherit it. ... Is it a bargain?"

"Bargain?"

"To be friends, and not let our mammas worry us. ... I like you."

"Really?" he asked, diffidently.

"Really," she said.

"I like you, too," he said, boyishly.

"We'll take in our Keep Off the Grass signs, then," she said. "Mother
and father seem to be going." She stood up and extended her hand.
"Good night, chum," she said. To herself she was saying what she was
too wise to say aloud: "Poor kid! A chum is what he needs."




CHAPTER IV