firmness and dispatch, Jimmy, who ought to have known better, had
seized her hand on the other side of the waist, swung her off her
feet, and placed her carefully on the cushions in the bow of the
canoe.

Then he had jumped in himself with a force which made the boat rock,
and was now paddling with the silent energy of a dangerous lunatic
into the middle of the lake; while Mr. Wesson, who had by this time
rounded the laurels, stood transfixed, gazing glassily after the
retreating vessel.

To the casual spectator, he might have seemed stricken dumb.

But at the end of the first ten seconds any fear that the casual
spectator might have entertained as to the permanence of the seizure
would have been relieved.




CHAPTER XI.


"The man who lays a hand upon a woman," said Jimmy, paddling strongly,
"save in the way of kindness--I'm very sorry, Molly, but you didn't
seem able to make up your mind. You aren't angry, are you?"

There was a brief pause, while Molly apparently debated the matter in
her mind.