"I am not trying very hard," answered the young woman; and then there
was another long silence. Finally she continued--

"I am going to take the steamer chair and do it up in ribbons when I get
ashore."

"I am afraid it will not be a very substantial chair, no matter what you
do with it. It will be a trap for those who sit in it."

"Are you speaking of your own experience?"

"No, of yours."

"George," she said, after a long pause, "did you like her very much?"

"Her?" exclaimed the young man, surprised. "Who?"

"Why, the young lady you ran away from. You know very well whom I mean."

"Like her? Why, I hate her."

"Yes, perhaps you do now. But I am asking of former years. How long were
you engaged to her?"

"Engaged? Let me see, I have been engaged just about--well, not
twenty-four hours yet. I was never engaged before. I thought I was, but
I wasn't really."

Miss Earle shook her head. "You must have liked her very much," she