THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES 
 

 
 Clara ioutBc 
 
 YOUNG MAIDS AND OLD. i6mo, $1.25; paper, 
 
 50 cents. 
 
 DEARLY BOUGHT. New Edition. i6mo, $1.25. 
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 NEXT DOOR. i6mo, $1.25; paper, 50 cents. 
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 $1.25; paper, 50 cents. 
 MISS BAGG'S SECRETARY. i6mo, $1,25; paper, 
 
 50 cents. 
 
 DR. LATIMER. i6mo, $1.25. 
 SWEET CLOVER. A Romance of the White City. 
 
 i6mo, $1.25. 
 
 THE WISE WOMAN. i6mo. $1.25. 
 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. i6mo, $1.25. 
 
 HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & CO. 
 BOSTON AND NEW YORK.
 
 MISS ARCHER ARCHER 
 
 BY 
 
 CLARA LOUISE BURNHAM 
 
 BOSTON AND NEW YORK 
 
 HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY 
 (Cbe fttoewi&e fittes, Cambri&ge 
 
 1897
 
 Copyright, 1897, 
 BY CLAKA LOUISE BURNHAM. 
 
 All rights reserved. 
 
 The Riverside Press, Cambridge, Mats., U. S. A. 
 Electrotyped and Printed by H. O. Houghton and Company
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTBB PAGE 
 
 I. HOMEWARD BOUND 1 
 
 II. THE EGG-ROLLING 16 
 
 III. MOUNT VERNON 29 
 
 IV. PULPIT POINT ....... 45 
 
 V. AMATEUR SURGERY 61 
 
 VI. AN IMPROMPTU PICNIC 76 
 
 VII. EDGEWATER 94 
 
 VHI. VACATION 108 
 
 IX. THE '' BAPTIZE " . 120 
 
 X. FORTRESS MONROE 133 
 
 XI. IN THE STUDIO . 147 
 
 XII. THE LIEUTENANT OFFENDS .... 163 
 
 XIII. UNDER THE WILLOWS 177 
 
 XIV. Miss ARCHER'S CONFIDANT .... 195 
 XV. A BICYCLE RIDE 211 
 
 XVI. Miss TOOTHAKER'S APPEAL .... 227 
 
 XVII. AT THE BALL 238 
 
 XVIII. GREEK MEETS GREEK 249 
 
 XIX. A MIGRATION 269 
 
 XX. BESIDE THE BOULDER ..... 282 
 
 XXI. ON THE ISLAND 297 
 
 499215 
 
 LIBRARY
 
 i ^ I.'; 1 ' 
 
 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 HOMEWARD BOUND. 
 
 Miss DEXTER had arrived at that stage of sea 
 sick misery where one fears the ship will not go 
 down. She lay supine in her berth, and watched 
 the garments hanging on the opposite wall sway 
 out toward her, as if they had suddenly become 
 sentient, and, tired of inaction, were coming over 
 to discover the cause of her doing so long without 
 them. Especially did the big buttons on her ulster 
 glare at her like curious eyes, nearer nearer, with 
 the strain and quiver of the ship, which this time 
 heeled over with such persistence that it seemed 
 an impossibility that it could ever right itself. 
 
 But Nathalie Dexter had no hope of this. The 
 motion had recurred too often. She knew the ship 
 would right itself, and she turned her head away 
 from the glare of the fiendish button-eyes and the 
 smothering effect of the advancing dress brigade. 
 
 " Oh ! " A little scream from the door of her 
 cabin broke in upon her sick oppression. The ship,
 
 2 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 in struggling for her perpendicular, had evidently 
 robbed Mrs. Archer of hers. 
 
 11 > i MffX, Archer was Nathalie's chaperon, a woman 
 ^th the steadiest of heads and the most cheerful 
 non-comprehension of mal de mer ; and the recum 
 bent sufferer gained a remote gleam of satisfaction 
 as she realized that Mrs. Archer had just come 
 into involuntary and sudden contact with the jamb 
 of the door. 
 
 " Does n't she roll, though ! " exclaimed the vis 
 itor. " I believe my shoulder is black and blue." 
 
 Nathalie's vague pleasure deepened, even though 
 she perceived feebly that the retiring ulster would 
 be back in a minute. 
 
 "How are you feeling, this evening?" pursued 
 the strong voice. 
 
 " Thanks," murmured Miss Dexter. 
 
 Mrs. Archer saw her lips move, but heard no 
 thing. 
 
 "Well, one day less," she remarked with a 
 laugh. " You do look forlorn ! Ah ! " with an 
 other little cry. " This won't do for me. I think 
 I '11 go and lash myself to something. Good 
 night ; " and Nathalie was alone. 
 
 She closed her eyes. Tears had stolen from 
 them many a time since she started on this voyage , 
 but they did not come now. She thought of the 
 woman who had just left her. She had fallen to 
 Mrs. Archer's charge unexpectedly, and at the last 
 minute almost, before sailing for home, and that
 
 HOMEWARD SOUND. 3 
 
 lady had taken her duties very lightly. She had 
 not even engaged a seat for Miss Dexter at table 
 when they started, and Nathalie had the mortifi 
 cation of being obliged to retire from the dining- 
 room after entering and finding it full, and after 
 ward to make her own arrangements with the 
 steward. 
 
 Mrs. Archer was a Philadelphian by birth and 
 breeding, and although she had married a Virginia 
 gentleman whose pride of blood she adopted after 
 his death, her worship of the Quaker City and of 
 its old families never weakened. She had now 
 been making a short sojourn in Europe in charge 
 of a Scion of one of these, and her absorption in 
 her sacred trust made it quite impossible that she 
 should take more than a nominal interest in Na 
 thalie Dexter, a girl recommended to her care by 
 a mutual friend, and who, while presentable and 
 sufficiently well behaved, had failed to be born in 
 Philadelphia, and if she had been born there, would 
 probably have been reared on the wrong side of 
 Market Street. 
 
 Miss Dexter, being an independent New Eng- 
 lander, and discovering in a day how the land lay, 
 determined not to annoy Mrs. Archer and her 
 select charge ; and had she been as well as on the 
 smooth, happy trip over, with her mother, a year 
 before, she would probably have been sufficiently 
 amused by the humorous aspects of the situation 
 to have retained undampened spirits.
 
 4 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 Seasickness, however, obliterating as it does all 
 earthly interests, swamps first of all the sense of 
 humor; and that daily momentary apparition at 
 the door, of her perfunctory chaperon, whose atten 
 tions had never exceeded this, seemed to Nathalie 
 insult added to the injury of her lonely, miserable 
 day. 
 
 The following morning, the ulster clinging 
 meekly to the wall, the girl came to the daring de 
 cision to put it on and to attempt to get on deck. 
 
 Finally dismissing the kind but over-busy stew 
 ardess, she crawled up the stairway, down which 
 gleamed the blessed light of day. 
 
 A tall man standing idly above her, his hands 
 crossed behind him, and gazing into nothingness, 
 heard her stumble, and turning, became instantly 
 alert. 
 
 There was a singing in her ears that made her 
 unmindful of what he said. She knew that he was 
 big and strong, and seemed friendly inclined, and 
 that in some way he got her into her steamer chair 
 and tucked a rug about her ; and that the hurrying 
 wind dashed life into her face and kept her from 
 fainting as she lay back, too limp to do more than 
 breathe. 
 
 Mrs. Archer materialized from somewhere. 
 
 "There, now, that is quite the most sensible 
 thing you could do," she remarked brusquely. 
 "You know I told you so, days ago. If people 
 would only use a little more will power. ' Come
 
 HOMEWARD BOUND. 5 
 
 on deck,' that is what I always say to them, 
 ' come on deck ! ' ' 
 
 While she spoke, the lady cast a sharp side 
 glance at the tall, smooth-shaven stranger in the 
 big overcoat. He acknowledged it by lifting his 
 cap ; then, after a moment's hesitation and a look 
 at Miss Dexter's white, immobile face, he moved 
 away. 
 
 Nathalie did not speak. It was a physical im 
 possibility to do so. So Mrs. Archer, after a few 
 more words concerning the unwisdom of yielding 
 to inertia, returned to the congenial circle she had 
 temporarily deserted. 
 
 " I had to go and speak to my Yankee," she ex 
 plained. " She has no more stamina to-day than a 
 wet rag ; and the kindest thing is to let her alone." 
 
 Nathalie, in her half-alive state, had little idea 
 of the passage of time ; but at one point in her 
 morning the deck-steward appeared at her side 
 with some refreshment. 
 
 She lifted her eyes to him weakly and shook her 
 head ; whereupon the Tall Man loomed beside her. 
 
 " You had better take something," he said ; and 
 she obeyed, ashamed to have him see her hands 
 tremble. 
 
 At intervals again through the day she ate at 
 his bidding, and when finally she went below, it 
 was his arm that she clung to, limply, until the door 
 of her cabin was reached. 
 
 "I thank you," she said, looking up into his
 
 6 MISS AEHER ARCHER. 
 
 calm eyes. She hadnever before known what it 
 was to be stirred to hr depths with gratitude. 
 
 That night she slpt; and the next morning, 
 when she climbed upthe stairway, he was waiting. 
 A touch of the comicappealed to her through her 
 feebleness when, aftr he had hastened to assist 
 her to her chair andprovide for her comfort, Mrs. 
 Archer suddenly appared as before, and with un 
 easy glances and pititudes waited until she had 
 seen him off to a saf distance, and then, her dun- 
 done, returned to he chosen companions. 
 
 The Tall Man, Aving already comprehended 
 the situation, again ssumed charge of the invalid's 
 diet. Nathalie's had was still unsteady, and her 
 weakness made he) answers to him monosyllabic, 
 as he stood besid* her with his slightly bowed 
 shoulders, and hads crossed behind him in his 
 usual attitude ; bu it was not quite such a dead 
 weight that afternon that he at last assisted down 
 the staircase. 
 
 " I wonder if 01 the following day it will * all 
 happen as before,'is the fairy tales say ? " thought 
 Nathalie that nigh, as she fell asleep. 
 
 But it did not. The Tall Man met her, and 
 when she was seatd Mrs. Archer scurried forward 
 to drive him off ; >ut after he had gone, the chap 
 eron did not immdiately follow his example. In 
 stead, she loweret her voice and let her offended 
 glance fall upon Nathalie. 
 
 " I wish, Mis Dexter/" she said, " that you
 
 HOMEWARD BOUND. 1 
 
 would cease to allow marked attentions from that 
 stranger. It is very disagreeable to me for you to 
 become the talk of the ship." 
 
 Nathalie had been fed into strength sufficient to 
 feel her indignation rise ; but she thought of her 
 mother and tried to control herself. 
 
 " I should think it was obvious," she said faintly, 
 " that a limp, white thing like me, with her cap 
 awry, is simply an object of charity." 
 
 " Pshaw ! Your hair is curly ! " answered the 
 other ; and the unexpected retort cheered Miss 
 Dexter. 
 
 " He is a young man, and very good-looking," 
 went on Mrs. Archer austerely. 
 
 Generations of New England directness looked 
 up through the girl's gray eyes into the ones above 
 her. " He evidently has a heart in his bosom," 
 she said distinctly. 
 
 "Oh, indeed! And you, perhaps" The 
 speaker paused, and the unspoken sneer brought 
 color into Nathalie's face. 
 
 " Stop right there, Mrs. Archer ! " she exclaimed 
 hastily. " I have n't given you very much trouble 
 since we started, I think. I am entirely able to 
 look after my own affairs." 
 
 Mrs. Archer bit her lip and fingered her chate 
 laine, but after a little hesitation she retreated, for 
 Miss Dexter was looking out to sea and appeared 
 to consider the interview ended. 
 
 The Tall Man was glad to see expression in the
 
 8 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 eyes that had been so vague, and he said as much 
 the next time he drew near. 
 
 She smiled up at him. "You have converted 
 me to being glad that my bones are not turning to 
 coral," she replied. 
 
 " Were you so low ? " he asked ; and then he 
 drew a seat near her. 
 
 " Yes. I have been very ill, and very homesick." 
 
 " Ah ! You are not an American, then ? " 
 
 " Yes, I am ; but at the last moment my 
 mother decided that her duty was to stay in Italy 
 with a sick friend, and " the girl made a praise 
 worthy effort to smile again " what is America 
 without a mother ? " 
 
 " Your courage will return with your digestion," 
 answered her companion, conscious of the quiver 
 of her lips, and settling himself more definitely in 
 his chair with a view to conversation. 
 
 Nathalie, disciplining herself with such mental 
 expletives as " Cry baby ! Goose ! Imbecile ! " 
 wiped her eyes stealthily. 
 
 " America is a very good place," he went on, 
 gazing out to sea. " I am very glad to be going 
 back to it. I suppose you have been in Philadel 
 phia?" 
 
 Miss Dexter's face at once symbolized an April 
 day. 
 
 " Oh, dear ! " she said. " Are you from Phila 
 delphia, too ? " 
 
 The Tall Man looked around at her. " Yes. 
 Why not?"
 
 HOMEWARD BOUND. 9 
 
 " No reason at all why not. Every reason why 
 you should be. You will be shocked, of course, to 
 hear that I never have been there ; but I shall 
 make the pilgrimage some day. Has the city 
 really golden streets ? " 
 
 Her companion looked puzzled before he smiled. 
 " Some one has been boring you about our town. 
 Well, I like it too ; but we can talk about some 
 thing else, where you live, for instance." 
 
 Nathalie met his questioning glance, already 
 grown grave again. Yes ; he was really very 
 good-looking, in the best sense of the word ; and 
 he was scarcely over thirty. She hoped Mrs. 
 Archer was watching them. 
 
 " Oh ! "/really do live in the Hub of the Uni 
 verse," she answered. 
 
 He reflected her smile. " And yet you are in 
 tolerant of egotistical Philadelphians ? The com 
 placence of Bostonians has almost passed into a 
 proverb." 
 
 " Yes, I know it. My father was a Connecticut 
 man, and he always liked to make a little fun of 
 his adopted city." 
 
 The Tall Man noted the softened glance and the 
 use of the past tense, and discerned that neither 
 was there a father in that motherless America to 
 which the girl was returning alone, or worse than 
 alone. 
 
 " I have been in your city many a time," he 
 said.
 
 10 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 " Perhaps you may have heard of my father, 
 Dr. Dexter ? " she said tentatively. " He was 
 quite well-known." 
 
 No, her companion had not heard of Dr. Dex 
 ter. 
 
 " He died two years ago," she went on. Then 
 she swallowed with difficulty. " I being the only 
 child, mother and I " Here her speech stopped, 
 and after a second she smiled with tremulous 
 brightness at her companion through the tears 
 that this time she frankly wiped away. 
 
 " I don't know what makes me so ridiculously 
 weepy this morning," she said. "I cry if one 
 speaks sharply to me ; and then if one looks 
 kindly at me, I cry. It seems to be a monotonous 
 way of taking things, does n't it? " 
 
 "You need something to eat," said the Tall 
 Man, looking around for the steward. 
 
 " Indeed I don't. Indeed not yet." 
 
 " I think you do. I do, any way. Excuse me, 
 and I will see about it." 
 
 He withdrew, and Miss Dexter leaned back in 
 her chair and took deep, quiet breaths until she 
 had regained the poise of which her tilt with Mrs. 
 Archer had robbed her. 
 
 By the time her benefactor returned, she was 
 able to join him in the lunch that was served 
 them. 
 
 " You are very, very kind to me," she said. " I 
 think by another day I shall not need to be a bur-
 
 HOMEWARD BOUND. 11 
 
 den to any one. My father was careful about 
 teaching me what to do in emergencies, but he 
 never told me any panacea for seasickness ! " 
 
 " That is something I 'in afraid you won't find," 
 responded the Tall Man, as he ate his sandwich. 
 
 "No. We are always hearing that common- 
 sense goes a good way ; but this does appear to be 
 a case where it doesn't help. It seems strange, 
 sometimes, to see how astonishingly little common- 
 sense a person may have. I once had such a pain 
 ful experience. I was out in the country, and a 
 tiny insect flew into my ear. He fluttered in 
 deeper and deeper, in spite of my efforts to get 
 him out, and at last he began to amuse himself 
 beating my ear-drum, that is, I suppose so. At 
 any rate, whatever he did hurt me terribly, and 
 made my brain seem all to be buzzing. The 
 nearest doctor lived ten miles away, and I had to 
 drive to his house, enduring this misery all the 
 time. When I reached him finally, he put some 
 instrument into my ear, and the insect fluttered 
 more madly than before. I will spare you the 
 harrowing details ; but I was in agony before he 
 succeeded in getting out even a piece of the crea 
 ture, and when I came back to Boston and told 
 father about it, he made me sit right down while 
 he gave me a lecture on emergencies. What do 
 you suppose I could have done for my own relief, 
 and that country doctor ought of course to have 
 known enough to do ? "
 
 12 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 " I don't know," responded the Tall Man ; 
 " I 'm not a country doctor." 
 
 " Well, can't you think ? It is so simple. I 
 felt silly when father told me." 
 
 " Go on, and make me feel silly ; for really, I 
 can't think what should be done." 
 
 " No, because it is so easy. I should have 
 dropped a little oil into my ear and clogged the 
 creature's wings. Then he could n't have flut 
 tered, and could have been removed at leisure." 
 
 "Capital! Can't you go on with my educa 
 tion?" 
 
 Mrs. Archer observed this interview from afar 
 with indignation ; and the next day she approached 
 Nathalie, triumph in her reproving mien. 
 
 " Perhaps you will listen to me now," she said. 
 " The lady who has the cabin next to that man 
 has had her diamonds stolen, and many people on 
 the ship believe that he has taken them ! " 
 
 Miss Dexter was standing this time, and she 
 returned her chaperon's gaze without excitement. 
 
 " Impossible ! " she answered, smiling. " He is 
 from Philadelphia." 
 
 Mrs. Archer flushed. " There are rogues in 
 Philadelphia." 
 
 " Really ? Well, I don't believe he has stolen 
 any diamonds ; and I certainly shall not alter my 
 treatment of him, if that is what you mean." 
 
 "Oh! Very well! I wash my hands of the 
 responsibility ; " and Mrs. Archer flounced angrily 
 away.
 
 HOMEWARD BOUND. 13 
 
 The Tall Man's conscience appeared to be either 
 clear or callous as he approached Nathalie later 
 and asked her to walk. She soon found herself 
 talking to him as to an old friend. She told him 
 how she had been studying the piano for the past 
 year, and how she meant to work all summer, and 
 of her hopes that the great Brandon of Boston 
 would let her into the elect circle of his pupils the 
 following winter ; and he told her in return how 
 he considered it of paramount importance that a 
 girl should have a special line of work and develop 
 it to the utmost, thereby securing at once her use 
 fulness and independence. She thought his manner 
 rather amusingly judicial for a man of his years, 
 but she did not say so ; and they were very friendly 
 indeed as they passed Mrs. Archer and her coterie, 
 unconscious of the withering glances which glided 
 harmlessly off them. 
 
 At last came the final day of the passage. The 
 Tall Man asked Nathalie if he might meet her and 
 take her in to the last festive dinner. She as 
 sented ; and the diamond accusation having come 
 to naught, Mrs. Archer only bridled when she was 
 informed of the fact. 
 
 " I shall do my duty by you, Miss Dexter, for 
 Mrs. Annersley's sake," she announced. " She 
 requested me as a favor to take care of you, and I 
 insist that you remember that I am chaperoning 
 you as well as my sweet bud here," and she im 
 printed a chaste kiss on the round forehead of the 
 Scion.
 
 14 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 They were waiting in the salon for the sum 
 mons. All three had discarded the salted gar 
 ments of the sea and donned trim walking dress. 
 Suddenly there entered from the further door the 
 Tall Man. He paused, before approaching, to 
 speak to a friend. 
 
 Sweater, ulster, outing-cap had disappeared, and 
 he was buttoned to his smooth chin in clerical 
 black. 
 
 Mrs. Archer clutched Nathalie's arm and 
 gasped : " Why, he 's a priest ! " 
 
 "So I see," returned Nathalie, equally aston 
 ished. 
 
 "From Philadelphia, you said," pursued the 
 other, in awestruck tones. " Some of the best 
 people there are Roman Catholics ! " 
 
 "He told me yesterday he was a professor of 
 philosophy in some institution," said Nathalie. 
 " Here is his card." 
 
 Mrs. Archer snatched it eagerly. " Lewis An 
 dreas ! An Andreas of Philadelphia ! " The 
 blood retreated to her heart. Her thoughts were 
 in such a whirl that she momentarily forgot her 
 sweet bud. Here she had been entertaining an 
 angel unawares No, that was the mischief of 
 it! She might have been entertaining him, and 
 she had failed to do so ! 
 
 Truly, there are bitter moments in life. 
 
 The object of her fascinated gaze turned, and 
 catching sight of Nathalie, smiled toward her, and
 
 HOMEWARD BOUND. 15 
 
 saying a last word to his friend, began to move in 
 her direction. 
 
 Mrs. Archer's grasp tightened on Nathalie's 
 arm. "Shall I" she ejaculated in a whisper. 
 " Would you call him ' Father ' ? " 
 
 Miss Dexter freed herself. " No, I don't think 
 I would," she returned dryly.
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE EGG-ROLLING. 
 
 
 
 APRIL came in tearfully that season in Wash 
 ington ; nor can the most devoted lovers of the 
 festive city deny that he who anticipates balmy 
 breezes there during the early spring will be dis 
 appointed. It is an eager and a nipping air that 
 rushes about the Monument and sweeps down the 
 broad avenue from Capitol to White House. No 
 where does one cling more fondly to furs in March 
 under a deceptive smiling sky. 
 
 But Easter Monday there came one of the relent 
 ing days when the tree-buds stretch rejoicingly and 
 the sparrows chatter. It had rained during the 
 morning, and every child in Washington, without 
 regard to sex or color, had been flattening his and 
 her little nose against the window-panes and cast 
 ing imploring glances at the sky. It was their 
 day, the day of the annual egg-rolling in the 
 " White Lot " behind the President's home. 
 
 Countless little baskets stood ready with their 
 gayly-colored eggs, and it was not only the sky that 
 rained tears as the precious morning, slipped by. 
 
 " ' Between the hours of eleven and two 
 
 Is the time to see what the weather will do,' "
 
 THE EGG-ROLLING. 17 
 
 muttered Priscilla Toothaker, as after lunch she 
 stood at her window and looked out. 
 
 " It 's pretty near two now, and I guess it 's 
 goin' to clear off." 
 
 The speaker was not one of the children, nor 
 did she have any ; but she felt for the little things, 
 and she welcomed the rifts in the sky. " Now, if 
 it comes off real clear, an hour's good shinin' ought 
 to dry up the grass enough so 's they can go," she 
 thought. " I don't know but I '11 go myself." 
 
 Sure enough, out came the sun with clear, ardent 
 rays, and before the hour was ended the streets 
 began to swarm with little folk from mansion and 
 hovel. White and black, in embroidery or calico 
 patches, they flocked from all directions toward 
 the White House, as if the President had the 
 Pied Piper himself for a guest. 
 
 Miss Toothaker determined to follow after. She 
 was a busy woman, for she kept a boarding-house, 
 or at least, she took charge of its table. A man 
 who, he said himself, knew his "p's and q's," 
 knew Miss Priscilla, and knew she had " faculty." 
 He had lured her two winters in succession from 
 her New England home to take charge of this 
 house for him, because his wife was an invalid, 
 and Miss Toothaker had performed the task to 
 everybody's satisfaction. 
 
 " I 'm willin' to work ; I like to," she said ; " but 
 I won't take responsibility. It scares me." 
 
 Miss Toothaker was a person not often troubled
 
 18 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 with doubts. Given a proposition, she knew very 
 quickly what she wanted to do, and her decision 
 made, she did it with her might. 
 
 She decided this afternoon that she was going to 
 take a half -holiday and forget what there would be 
 for dinner. She was her own mistress. Mr. and 
 Mrs. Barclay, nominal heads of the house, never 
 interfered with her. They knew better. 
 
 " I 'm goin' out, Junius," she said to her black 
 factotum, a youthful person in a high shirt-collar. 
 
 " Yas 'm," he replied, with a gracious air all his 
 own. " I reckon it don't seem to be so cold as it 
 feels to-day." 
 
 " H'm," said Miss Priscilla, who did not always 
 trouble herself to respond to the amiable but in 
 volved remarks of her aid. 
 
 " I s'pose you '11 be back in the co'se of quarter 
 to six ? " pursued Junius. 
 
 " Yes, I guess so ; but keep your wits about you 
 now. It won't do for us both to be off the same 
 time." 
 
 " Oh, yas 'm. I won't disremember nothin'. 
 Goin' to the egg-rollin', Miss Pris? I thought a 
 while ago the chillen was April-fooled this time, 
 sure." 
 
 Miss Toothaker was pulling down window-shades, 
 tying her bonnet-strings, and taking last looks 
 about the dining-room ; so Junius proceeded : 
 
 " Y' ought to seen a man git April-fooled oncet 
 to a rest'rant whar I worked. He took his meals
 
 THE EGG-ROLLING. 19 
 
 thar reg'lar, and they put up a job on him. He 
 was always eatin' apple-pie ; so they brung him one 
 filled with cotton wool. It was hot, an' it looked 
 so greasy an' nice he shet down on it, an' well, 
 after that he did n't order no more apple-pie." 
 The speaker grinned appreciatively. " He said 
 the crust was short enough, but the wool was too 
 light for him." 
 
 " H'm. Now, don't forget to fix this side-table 
 for Miss Archer to-night. Don't try to squeeze 
 her in as you did this morning. It is n't comfort 
 able. Goodness ! I ought to take her out with 
 me, this afternoon ! Mrs. Barclay is n't able to. 
 Go see if Miss Archer is home." 
 
 " She ain't, Miss Pris. Done went out fo' lunch, 
 and ain't come back. Said she wanted to go up 
 in the doom o' the Capitol." 
 
 " Well, I guess she '11 get along. With a tongue 
 in her head and money in her pocket, she won't 
 get lost. Plucky girl," added Miss Toothaker to 
 herself. 
 
 " She 's got kind of a queer tongue in her haid," 
 hazarded Junius, moving a castor nervously. Miss 
 Priscilla did not encourage comments on the 
 boarders. 
 
 " What do you mean ? " she asked curtly. 
 
 " She kind o' talks like kind o' like she 
 couldn't talk real real plain or somethin'," stut 
 tered Junius. " I like to hear her, though, fust- 
 rate, I do. It sut'n'y makes me want to laugh."
 
 20 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 Miss Toothaker sniffed. " I 'm goin' now. I - 
 depend on you, remember. See that everything 
 goes right." 
 
 A series of smiling " yas 'ms " followed her out 
 the door. 
 
 She took a deep breath as she stepped forth into 
 the sweet air so full of " green things growing." 
 
 "It feels like summer," she soliloquized, saunter 
 ing along past the Arlington and toward the centre 
 of attraction. Priscilla seldom sauntered. She 
 was usually going somewhere in a hurry, and it 
 was often to market ; but this was a deliberately 
 taken outing, and she meant to enjoy it. There 
 was not a frill about her severe and simple garb ; 
 yet the jauntily shabby carriage-drivers, basking 
 in sudden sunshine against the curb of Lafayette 
 Park, discerned her holiday spirit with their usual 
 uncanny penetration, and starting toward her, their 
 ebony faces wreathed in ingratiating smiles, became 
 voluble : 
 
 " Drive this evenin', lady ? Take y' all round 
 the city, cheap." 
 
 She shook her head at them. " Yes, I 'in out 
 for an airin','' she addressed them mentally, " but 
 when I spend my money to go off in a brooch, 
 'foot and alone, I guess you '11 know it." 
 
 Then the park allured her. The shrieks of the 
 sparrows were mellowed in the budding trees. She 
 stepped within, and strolling along the path until 
 she reached the spot where Andrew Jackson in
 
 THE EGG-ROLLING. 21 
 
 bronze reins his rearing, mettlesome charger, she 
 sat down on an iron seat. 
 
 " I '11 go across to the White House in a minute," 
 she thought. " Here 's a real quiet place to look 
 over my letter." 
 
 She drew from her pocket an envelope with a 
 foreign postmark, and took out the thin sheets 
 within. These she unfolded and read carefully 
 from beginning to end, not without an occasional 
 puzzled frown, and an uncomplimentary allusion 
 to the quality of the paper and ink. 
 
 Then she let hands and letter fall into her black- 
 silken lap, and her light eyes, with all their little 
 wrinkles, kindly and anxious, stared before her. 
 
 At that moment there came striding down the 
 same street by which she had come, a masculine 
 figure. When he passed the carriage-drivers, they 
 stopped their chuckling and chaffing, started up and 
 stared at him wistfully, some of them lifting a hand, 
 but they did not venture to address him. It was 
 not because his appearance was that of a " swell," 
 although they recognized that; but because there 
 was such an unmistakable air about him of being 
 able to ask for what he wanted, and of getting it, 
 too. His was an imposing figure, tall above the 
 common, flat of back and broad of shoulder, and 
 he had a way of holding in his chin as he walked 
 which gave him a military erectness of bearing. 
 Added to this, the firm, heavy curves of his smooth- 
 shaven lips and chin, his large nose, and well-set
 
 22 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 eyes gave him an appearance of power which, com 
 bined with naturally graceful movements, made 
 him noticeable and noticed wherever he moved. 
 He was as accustomed to being stared at as the 
 hero-actor of the matinee girl's fancy, and certainly 
 thought less about it than must the man with whom 
 such popularity gauges success. 
 
 He had been one of Miss Toothaker's family off 
 and on during her two Washington winters, and 
 had, moreover, been once upon a time nursed by 
 that efficient woman through a severe illness. 
 Therefore when he, also attracted by the aspect of 
 the park, turned aside and, entering it, caught sight 
 of her, wrapped in her brown study and staring 
 at the equestrian statue, he halted his long steps 
 beside her. 
 
 " If here is n't the fairest of her sex," he re 
 marked, lifting his hat. 
 
 Miss Toothaker raised vague eyes to him and 
 then looked back. " They do say his tail balances 
 him," she said musingly. 
 
 The young man hesitated, then dropped upon 
 the rustic seat beside her. " Miss Pris, there is 
 usually so little subtlety in your remarks that I 
 feel warranted in asking you to explain yourself," 
 he said. 
 
 " Do you believe it ? " 
 
 " I don't know. I should have to be introduced 
 to the tail." 
 
 Miss Toothaker was accustomed to paying as
 
 THE EGG-ROLLING. 23 
 
 little attention to the remarks of this young man 
 as she gave to those of the colored boy she had left 
 at home. If Junius's effusions savored more of 
 heart than head, so did those of this personage 
 more of head than heart. She did not understand 
 him half the time, and for the most part she did 
 not complicate existence by endeavoring to do so. 
 
 " They do say he ain't fastened to the pedestal 
 at all, just balances perfectly, mane and tail." 
 
 " Oh ! you are referring to yon quadruped ? " 
 
 " Yes. Land ! " Miss Priscilla suddenly started 
 and gasped. 
 
 "What's the matter?" 
 
 She laughed a little shamefacedly. " Did you 
 see that sparrer go into the horse's nostril? 
 Stopped my breath right up. I wish 't he 'd come 
 out." 
 
 " Why, Miss Pris, you 're imaginative. Who 'd 
 have thought it ? " and her companion faced around 
 toward her and leaned his elbow on the back of 
 the seat. 
 
 " Comes from havin' a vacation, I guess. I 'm 
 off on a spree this afternoon." 
 
 " Indeed ? " The young man smiled. " Where 's 
 your cardinal pigment ? " 
 
 Miss Toothaker met the twinkling light in his 
 eyes. "Hey?" 
 
 " What are you going to do to celebrate ? " 
 
 " I 'm goin' to see the children roll eggs after I 
 get tired of Andrew Jackson ; but I thought I 'd 
 sun myself first."
 
 24 AflSS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 "Quite right, lady. Warm, isn't it?" The 
 speaker lifted his hat from his scrupulously parted 
 hair, and suppressed a yawn. Resettling his hat 
 and regarding his companion fixedly, he continued : 
 " It is a pity to cloud the sun for you by referring 
 to a bereavement at such a time, but I meant to 
 speak of it the first chance I had." 
 
 "Goodness, Mr. Andreas, what's happened?" 
 asked the kind woman, quick to perceive the 
 mournful change which crept over her compan 
 ion's face. 
 
 " I 've lost a mouse by death, up in my room, 
 in the closet, I think." 
 
 " For pity's sake ! Do you mean you smell 
 it?" 
 
 " Dear lady ! " Mr. Andreas laid his gloved 
 hand on hers and drew his brows together in fas 
 tidious deprecation. " You put it so baldly ! But 
 I thought if you would set Junius on the the 
 scent, since you will have it so, it might be 
 best for you and best for me." 
 
 " I '11 see to it." 
 
 " And one more thing. If I must be squeezed, 
 I should prefer it to be accomplished by youth 
 and beauty ; but when it comes to mealtimes, I 
 prefer the use of my arms to any amount of 
 sweet womanly propinquity ; therefore if you could 
 make it convenient to withdraw that " 
 
 " Miss Archer I know." 
 
 "Yes, the lovely Archer. Her elbows may not
 
 THE EGG-ROLLING. 25 
 
 be Cupid's darts, but she aims them with the cer 
 tainty of the little god." 
 
 " Elbows ! I guess she had enough to complain 
 of between two such creatures as you and Mrs. 
 Rathbun, poor girl ! " 
 
 " O Miss Toothaker ! " emotionally. " It makes 
 me thrill to have you class me with Mrs. Rathbun. 
 Tell me honestly, as man to man, does n't that 
 amiable woman wear reform clothing? " 
 
 " It 's none o' your business what she wears. 
 She 's goin' to learn the bicycle to reduce her 
 flesh." 
 
 " She is ! Does the bicycle know it ? " 
 
 Miss Toothaker laughed a little. 
 
 " What bicycle, Miss Pris ? " 
 
 " I don't know. A good strong one, I hope." 
 
 Andreas shook his head. " That settles it. I 
 shall leave Washington. I hope I am an ordina 
 rily brave man ; but I owe it to my family not to 
 stay in the same town where Mrs. Rathbun rides a 
 wheel." 
 
 " It was merely Junius's mistake about Miss 
 Archer," said Miss Toothaker, reverting, as usual, 
 to practical matters. " I 've fixed it to have her 
 seat changed to-night. She 's only goin' to be here 
 two or three days, anyway. You know she 's the 
 Barclays' guest. They do it to help her along, I 
 guess. ' She lives down in Virginia, and does some 
 kind o' dinner cards or favors, or triflin' paintin' o' 
 some kind for stores here ; so she came up to see
 
 26 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 about her orders. This is the first minute I've 
 had to help her any to sight-see or have a good 
 time, and when I was ready to come out this after 
 noon she 'd gone. Kind of a pretty girl." 
 
 "Pretty is as pretty does," returned Andreas, 
 with gentle reproach. " I did n't get a fair look 
 at her. I informed her that it was a cool morning, 
 and she showed no surprise. Then she asked me 
 for the salt, and she did n't seem to have that mas 
 tery of the letter S which one looks for from a girl 
 who does up her hair." 
 
 " She 's got a little impediment, and that South 
 ern talk 's queer anyway ; but it 's cunnin', too. 
 The way she always says ' Ah ' for ' I ' sticks in 
 my mind. I 'm always possessed to say it over 
 after her. ' Yes Ah will Ah can Ah do,' she 
 says. Then, anyway, you need n't criticise ! You 
 pronounce hard and regard and such words 's if 
 they were spelled Tiord and regard, yourself." 
 
 " Miss Toothaker ! This personality and 
 from you ? What a world of surprises ! " 
 
 " I should think it was a world of surprises. 
 Here 's this letter just came to me this mornin'." 
 The speaker lifted the sheets in her lap. " It 's 
 from the best woman that ever breathed, but she 
 puts me out. She expected to come home this 
 spring, and now she 's got to stay over in Italy, 
 and wants me to fill in her place here this summer. 
 A relative of hers has lent her his cottage at the 
 seashore, and she wants me to go there it 's up
 
 THE EGG-ROLLING. 27 
 
 in Maine and open the house and take charge 
 of her daughter. I have n't seen Nathalie since 
 she was a little girl and Dr. Dexter used to bring 
 her to his old home once in a while." 
 
 " See what you pay for having ' faculty ' ! That 
 is what Mr. Barclay says you have, ' faculty.' ' 
 
 " I can't even make out the name o' the place. 
 See if you can." Miss Toothaker indicated a 
 word on one of the pages. 
 
 Her companion examined it a moment, then 
 started back dramatically, staring at the paper. 
 
 " Is it ? It can't be ! It is ! Miss Pris," ten 
 derly, " there is something more than chance in 
 this. We are not constantly thrown together in 
 this way fof nothing." 
 
 " For mercy's sake speak out ! " said Miss Tooth 
 aker. 
 
 " There 's no mistake about it. Fate intends 
 that you shall make me a huckleberry-pie." 
 
 " Does it, indeed ? Well, perhaps /don't." 
 
 " That place is Pulpit Point ; and Pulpit Point 
 be brave, Miss Pris is where my people have 
 their summer cottage." 
 
 Miss Toothaker sniffed and took back her letter. 
 " So you think I won't get rid of you ? " 
 
 The young man shook his head. " Not unless 
 Nathalie is awfully disagreeable," he returned. 
 " Why don't you want to go ? " he added. 
 
 " Oh, I don't know. I s'pose Nathalie ain't a 
 child any longer. I s'pose there would n't be so
 
 28 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 very much responsibility. I " She recalled her 
 wandering thoughts suddenly and rose. " I ; m 
 goin' to see the egg-rollin'," she said. 
 
 Andreas strolled along beside her, and they 
 looked over toward the teeming lawn of the White 
 House. 
 
 " See ! They 're not using the White Lot," he 
 remarked. " Too wet, perhaps. How many fami 
 lies in the land would submit their grounds to be 
 invaded by such an army of small vandals? A 
 good deal is expected of our Executive, don't you 
 think? Thankless job being President of these 
 United States, anyway. For my own part, I 've 
 determined to refuse the nomination."
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 MOUNT VERNON. 
 
 THE next morning, the weather not having re 
 considered its pleasant truce, and Russell Andreas 
 having some insurance business which called him 
 to Alexandria, he suddenly decided to proceed 
 thither by boat. 
 
 He settled himself in a quiet corner of the deck 
 with his newspaper, and becoming absorbed in its 
 contents, noted nothing of the passing and repass- 
 ing near him until the bell, ringing for the start, 
 caused him to look up and discover that a good 
 many people beside himself had taken advantage 
 of the sunny morning for a river trip. 
 
 He let his glance stray mechanically over his 
 neighbors, and it was quite a matter of course that 
 many of them were looking at himself. Only one 
 face did he recognize, and that only after a min 
 ute's waiting to make sure that he was not mis 
 taken. He had not before seen her with a hat on, 
 and she was not one of those now honoring him 
 with an inspection. He obtained only a three- 
 quarters view of her face as she looked absorbedly 
 toward the river-bank. 
 
 There could be no doubt, as time went on, what
 
 30 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 she was watching for, for when the boat passed 
 near Washington Barracks, she started up from 
 her chair and gazed eagerly at the unsatisfactory 
 view of quarters and parade ground, the dash of 
 bright color where a sentinel guarded his post, and 
 the stars and stripes floating over all. 
 
 Now the girl's lips parted, and her color deep 
 ened in the spring wind, while the soft touch of her 
 brown hair caressed her temples. She looked very 
 young and innocent in her tall girlhood ; her large 
 blue eyes were exceptionally childlike in expres 
 sion, Andreas thought, for by this time he had 
 moved to where he could see her eyes, although he 
 was careful not to appear to observe them. He 
 was a wary young man, and, owing to his physical 
 peculiarities, more accustomed to avoiding snares 
 than to setting them. 
 
 " Yes, it is Miss Archer," he decided, " and she 
 is evidently enamored of brass buttons." 
 
 When the Barracks were passed, the girl sank 
 back in her chair, but still looked about her with 
 interest. 
 
 Andreas recalled what Miss Priscilla had said of 
 her. The statements did not indicate a lively ex 
 istence. There was a certain pathos in the fact of 
 her lonely outing, and the way she was making the 
 most of her little holiday. Too bad she had to go 
 about in this solitary fashion ; and all the time he 
 was indulging in these magnanimous and compas 
 sionate thoughts, Andreas was holding himself in
 
 'MOUNT VERNON. 31 
 
 readiness to flee if the girl-tourist showed symp 
 toms of recognizing him. He had known too often 
 what it was to be seized upon, definitely, irreme 
 diably, and he had developed marvelous elusive 
 ingenuity. 
 
 How fresh and sweet she looked ! Southern 
 girls were a nice lot. Though slender, she was not 
 thin. He had been hypercritical to complain of 
 her elbows. It was a moral certainty that they 
 were rounded. 
 
 Standing thus in idle meditation, he suddenly 
 realized that he had relaxed his guard unwarranta 
 bly. The brown head turned, and the blue eyes 
 under the wide brow ran with childlike indifference 
 along 1 the faces of her neighbors. Andreas's time 
 
 o t^ 
 
 had come. His hand stole mechanically toward 
 the hat which he would raise in turning, and then 
 put his faith in his long legs. She was a Southern 
 girl ; she would not attempt to detain him. 
 
 But the hand did not reach his hat. Miss 
 Archer saw him, there could not be a doubt of 
 that ; but there was none of that recognition, 
 not a gleam of that radiant recognition which he 
 was most apt to read in the faces of his woman 
 friends. The blue eyes met his without changing 
 expression, and moved steadily onward. 
 
 His hand dropped, and the long strides were 
 not called into requisition. Her complexion had 
 shell-like tints, and she liked brass buttons ! 
 
 " Too shy to bow, poor thing," he thought.
 
 32 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 " After all, it won't be so far to Alexandria, and 
 it 's lonely for her, unsophisticated little girl." 
 
 Whereupon, the magnanimous impulse being 
 given its way, in a moment more the serene blue 
 eyes were looking up into a pair of brown ones, 
 as Russell Andreas stood beside the girl, with 
 uncovered head. 
 
 " Good-morning, Miss Archer. You don't rec 
 ognize me." 
 
 She did not change her position at his advent. 
 " Yes, I do, perfectly," she said with calm delib 
 eration. " Yo 're the gentleman who showed temper 
 yesterday because we were so crowded at table." 
 
 " I ! " Andreas laughed in his discomfiture. 
 " I ! Showed temper ? Miss Archer ! " 
 
 "Yes, you cert'nly did. A sort of Jove-like, 
 repressed wrath, you know. It was right amusing. 
 I hit yo' arm once or twice on purpose ; but then 
 it was awfully impolite, and I had no business to 
 do it." 
 
 "And you were well punished for it, too," re 
 torted Andreas, who, bewildered by her drawl and 
 her lisp and her demureness, could not decide what 
 this innocent impudence might betoken, and was 
 only conscious of being suddenly glad that Alexan 
 dria was no nearer. " You were put at the side- 
 table last evening like a naughty child." 
 
 " Oh, the side-table is a great improvement. 
 Junius treats me like a queen. Won't you either 
 step aside or sit down, please ? Yo 're so big, and 
 I 've never been up the Potomac before."
 
 MOUNT VERNON. 33 
 
 Andreas, in whose experience this was the first 
 girl who had preferred scenery to him, took the 
 alternative in an exhilarating condition of astonish 
 ment. She went on talking, imperturbably. 
 
 " I live on a creek at home, but this river is 
 something different. I was so glad it was pleas 
 ant to-day, for I must go home to-morrow, and 
 I 've never been to Mount Vernon in all ma 
 life." 
 
 "Oh! you're going to Mount Vernon?" said 
 Andreas. 
 
 " Yes, of co'se. Are n't you? " 
 
 Andreas hesitated a perceptible instant, during 
 which the interests of the insurance business trem 
 bled in the "balance. She turned her innocent face 
 fully toward him and regarded him attentively. 
 " You look like such a nice man," she said mus 
 ingly. 
 
 " I am," admitted Andreas, with prompt ingenu 
 ousness. 
 
 " Oh, dear, no." She smiled for the first time, 
 faintly, showing the edges of small white teeth ; 
 and it was at that moment that Russell decided 
 definitely not to get off at Alexandria. " Yo 're 
 not nearly so nice as he is, that is, I don't believe 
 you are. He is a priest." 
 
 Andreas raised his eyebrows. " Same name as 
 mine, perhaps ? " 
 
 " I did n't catch yo' name. I 've called you ma 
 Lord Touch-me-not."
 
 34 3//SS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 The young man flushed. " Russell Andreas, at 
 your service," he said, lifting his hat. 
 
 She gave a soft cry. " Not Russell Andreas ! " 
 she exclaimed, and the owner of the name con 
 gratulated himself that it boasted so richly of 
 the letter S. 
 
 Then she laughed, the most mischievous, bub 
 bling little laugh that ever fell from a girl's lips. 
 
 " I think that 's too funny," she said. 
 
 He shrugged his shoulders. " You will have to 
 let me into the joke," he answered. 
 
 " Why, Ro somebody was talking to me about 
 you only last week." 
 
 "Favorably, I'hope." 
 
 " And to think you are yo' brother's brother ! " 
 
 " Why, it has always seemed very natural to 
 me. You know him, do you ? " 
 
 "I met him at Fort Monroe. Are you a Ro 
 man Catholic, too ? " 
 
 " No. I tell Lewis he is so high and narrow, I 
 have to be low and broad to balance him. Who is 
 it who has been talking to you about me ? " 
 
 The serene blue eyes were again busy with the 
 scenery. " Would you rather know who he is, or 
 what he said ? " 
 
 " Oh, it is a man ? I am not afraid to hear what 
 any man says of me ; and I 'm curious as curious 
 as you please." 
 
 " But he said a lot of things. It came up be 
 cause I was coming to Washington, and he said
 
 MOUNT VERNON. 35 
 
 you were very likely here, as yo' insurance busi 
 ness often called you this way. Some of the 
 things he said probably would n't be good for you 
 to hear, but I '11 tell you one, if you really want 
 me to." 
 
 " Of course I do." 
 
 The childlike gravity had all returned to Miss 
 Archer's face. " He said that wherever yo' insur 
 ance didn't take you, yo' assurance did." 
 
 Russell's short laugh had a conscious ring. It 
 occurred to him that he was proving the truth of 
 this assertion at the present moment. 
 
 " After that I demand your friend's address, in 
 order that I may call him out," he said. 
 
 " Then I reckon I won't give it to you, for he 
 is n't at all well." 
 
 By the time Mount Vernon was reached, these 
 two had made some strides in their acquaintance, 
 and Andreas had not once regretted Alexandria. 
 As they climbed the tree-laden hill toward Wash 
 ington's tomb, Andreas spoke. 
 
 " I have given you my full name, and you have 
 not returned the compliment." 
 
 " Is n't Archer enough for you ? " 
 
 " It is a good name." 
 
 " I fear you don't half realize what a good name 
 it is." 
 
 Andreas looked at her questioningly, but the 
 innocent directness of her gaze was absorbing their 
 surroundings. They were approaching the iron
 
 36 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 grating behind which reposes the eagle-crowned 
 sarcophagus of the Father of his Country. 
 
 "I have never been here before, either," said 
 Andreas. " So this is where the truthful gentle 
 man lies at last." 
 
 His companion shook her head. " You should n't 
 say funny things about Washington." Her roving 
 glance embraced the fine estate. " Let us go on. 
 It is more beautiful here than I supposed." 
 
 They wandered around by the old tomb and to 
 the pavilion, where they sat looking down the steep 
 bank with its fine trees, to the stately, broad river. 
 
 The girl looked up toward the pillared mansion. 
 " I should like to live here with a steam yacht," 
 she said. 
 
 Andreas smiled at her. " Would you ? I should 
 prefer to live here with a lady, a very nice lady, 
 you understand. Pretty, and amiable, and all 
 that, you know." 
 
 Birds were calling each other from height to 
 height in the ecstasy of the sunshine. The scat 
 tered tourists did not interfere with the effect of 
 breadth and seclusion about them. 
 
 " Oh, that 's very natural if yo 're in love," she 
 answered. " I 'm in love with steam yachts. I 
 went out in one once at Old Point Comfort." 
 
 "Out out," repeated Andreas, pursing up his 
 mouth. " If I could pronounce ' out ' the way you 
 do, I would n't work any more." 
 
 She flushed a little. " You say enough queer
 
 MOUNT VERNON. 37 
 
 things," she retorted. " Yo 're from Philadel 
 phia, I reckon." 
 
 " I don't see what you mean ; but then, if you 
 know my brother, you guess that easily. When 
 did you meet him ? He has been abroad most of 
 the winter, and has just come home." 
 
 " Last fall. It happened I met him twice, for 
 he was visiting a friend of mine. That 's the way 
 I learned that there were some nice people in Phil 
 adelphia." 
 
 " Indeed ? You don't trouble yourself to flatter 
 my city." 
 
 " I don't need to. We have a Philadelphian in 
 our house." 
 
 " Look here, don't rub it in ! See how polite I 
 was to you in advance. I went to college in your 
 State." 
 
 " The University of Virginia. Yes, I know you 
 did." 
 
 He stared. " You do ! " 
 
 She suddenly regarded him with eager interest. 
 "Were you an Eli?" 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " Oh ! " in poignant regret. " I wish I 'd known 
 you at that time instead of now ; but then," 
 with a shrug, "I dare say ma hair was in plaits 
 then. I don't suppose you would have looked at 
 me." 
 
 Andreas smiled. " Then you are not entirely 
 given over to the military."
 
 38 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 "The military?" she repeated with interest. 
 " How did you know I was fond of the military ? " 
 
 " I watched you as we were passing Washington 
 Barracks." 
 
 " You did ? " No one seeing her wide eyes 
 could have doubted that this news surprised the 
 young woman, although in fact she had been 
 perfectly aware of his espionage as long as jit 
 lasted. " That was very rude of you. However, 
 seeing you have discovered it, I don't mind telling 
 you that I do love an army officer." 
 
 " Better than steam yachts? " inquired Andreas 
 dryly. 
 
 " Oh, yes. An army officer, you understand," 
 explained the girl. " I prefer steam yachts infi 
 nitely to some army officers of ma acquaintance." 
 
 "Well," said Andreas, somewhat stiffly, "con 
 sidering you have so much mysterious information 
 about me, it is perhaps only fair that you should 
 tell me these interesting details concerning your 
 self. Shall we go on up to the house ? " 
 
 "Yes." She slid from her perch on the rail, 
 and advanced beside him. " You turn rusty some 
 times, ma Lord Touch-me-not, don't you ? " she 
 added after a silence. She met her companion's 
 sudden sharp glance with eyes that sparkled out of 
 their usual demureness. 
 
 " You have made a pun without being aware of 
 it, Miss Archer." 
 
 " You don't suppose I would make one being
 
 MOUNT VERNON. 39 
 
 aware of it, do you? There, that piazza, I know, 
 is the very best of all," she added. " Let us save 
 it until the last." 
 
 She was so fresh and simple, she spoke with 
 such a relish. Andreas wondered if that officer 
 might not be her brother. He would believe so 
 for the present. 
 
 They strolled around the house to the garden, 
 and wandered into the box-edged paths. 
 
 " This box ! Think what it has witnessed ! " 
 said Andreas, impressed by the gnarled and tough 
 wood of the pungent-smelling border. " The satin 
 knee-breeches, gold snuff-boxes, brocaded skirts, 
 and court-plaster, think of them, right here." 
 
 " Yes," returned his companion. " Supposing 
 those old fogies had seen a few bicycle girls rac 
 ing around these grounds : I suppose it would 
 have shocked them so their wigs would have stood 
 right up." 
 
 " Miss Archer ! I 'm afraid there is a hollow 
 where your bump of reverence ought to be. And 
 you reproved me for being funny about Washing 
 ton ! Steam yachts and bicycles at Mount Ver- 
 non ! You grieve me." 
 
 "Oh, but Washington is different. What a 
 splendid place this would be to entertain in ! 
 I 'd like to give a German here." 
 
 " Hush ! You disturb my day-dream. Don't 
 speak of anything more lively than the minuet ! 
 Think of Washington himself dignifiedly patrol-
 
 40 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 ling that majestic piazza and straining his eyes, 
 scanning the river for a sail, possibly bringing 
 him vital news. Oh, the good old times ! " 
 
 " Nonsense ! " remarked the girl airily. " The 
 good new times have spoiled us for them." 
 
 " Miss Archer." Andreas faced her squarely. 
 They had reached the end of a garden path, and 
 the girl, by his sudden motion, was placed with her 
 back to a greenhouse, as he looked directly down 
 into her face. " I am being obliged to revise all 
 my first impressions of you. I had no idea that 
 there were any new women among the soft-spoken, 
 charming maidens of the South. I now begin to 
 suspect that you are the very latest thing in new 
 women." 
 
 She returned his gaze with smiling defiance. 
 "Why do you think so, Mr. Rusty Andreas?" 
 She drawled the name teasingly. 
 
 "What!" He laughed and frowned. "You 
 even know my nickname ? " He paused and 
 shook his head slowly. " This has gone on long 
 enough. You may be a new woman of the most 
 novel description, and be tolerably independent of 
 men, all except army officers, of course, but 
 there still remains a slight balance of physical 
 strength in our favor, and I am going to get quite 
 a little information before you come out of that 
 corner." 
 
 " Oh, you must n't take that tone. I don't like 
 people who coerce me. Ask me prettily as we go
 
 MOUNT VERNON. 41 
 
 up to the house. We have n't been in yet, and 
 there are spinets and armchairs and vases and 
 lots of things to assist yo' day-dream." 
 
 " I don't care for detached relics. Do you ? " 
 
 " Love them. Let me go." 
 
 She darted lightly to one side, but he caught her 
 with one arm, and gently but irresistibly set her 
 back. 
 
 She breathed fast. " I don't want to take part 
 in a vulgar romp," she said. 
 
 "I wouldn't," he answered. Their gaze, half- 
 laughing, wholly challenging, met, and they were 
 mute. 
 
 " I reckon you won't lose the boat ? " she asked 
 at last. 
 
 " I hope not." 
 
 " Do you mean you would ? " 
 
 " If you insisted, of course I should have to. I 
 ought not to, for I ought to stop off at Alexandria 
 sure, going back. Perhaps you will go with me. 
 I will take you through the Braddock house, show 
 you the black mahogany staircase where Sally 
 Fairfax came tripping down to dance the minuet 
 with Washington, show you the room where the 
 deed was done, show you the deep stone cham 
 bers under the house where the horses were kept, 
 show " 
 
 " Never mind ! As if I should ever go any 
 where with you again, when you treat me so ! " 
 
 " I protest. I say you have treated me so, ever
 
 42 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 since we started. Now then : What 's your first 
 name? Fair exchange, remember. Rusty An 
 dreas ! Well ! " 
 
 She flushed. " Do you remember the Mother 
 Goose riddle beginning, ' Elizabeth, Betsy, Bessie, 
 and Beth ? ' That 's ma first name." 
 
 " Oh, well. I '11 think that over and take my 
 choice later. Your middle name, please." 
 
 " Archer." 
 
 " No your middle name." 
 
 " Archer." 
 
 " Very well," indifferently, " if you don't care to 
 see the detached relics " 
 
 " Mr. Andreas I 'm a Virginian, and in 
 George Washington's home at that." 
 
 " Then what is your last name ? " 
 
 " Dear me ! Yo 're an awfully stupid man, 
 are n't you ? " 
 
 He gazed at her firmly. " I can stay here as 
 long as you can. My insurance takes me to Alex 
 andria, to be sure ; but my assurance keeps me 
 here. I 'm coming to that traducer presently, or 
 to-night, or to-morrow morning, whenever we get 
 to him." 
 
 " I wish he were here now," remarked the girl 
 coolly. " He would have you out of that path in 
 a twinkling." 
 
 The decided curves of her captor's mouth wid 
 ened over his even teeth. She read his expres 
 sion.
 
 MOUNT VERNON. 43 
 
 " Oh, yes, he could do it, too, although he is n't 
 quite so big as you are ; or he could if he were 
 well. He is n't at all well." 
 
 "Then as he isn't here and isn't well," said 
 Andreas gently, " don't you want to save time by 
 telling me your full name ? " 
 
 " I see I shall have to, yo 're so slow witted. 
 I 'm sorry I can't do it in words of one syllable. 
 Now listen." She spoke slowly. " Ma name is 
 Elizabeth Archer Archer." 
 
 At her companion's look of surprise, she smiled. 
 " You remember the story of the old woman who 
 was entertaining her minister, and sweetened his 
 coffee by filling his cup half full of molasses? 
 When he protested, she hushed him, saying it 
 wouldn't be any too good fo' him if it were all 
 molasses. Well, I 've always been convinced that 
 ma father did n't think it would have been any 
 too good for me if ma name had been all Archer." 
 
 " Elizabeth Archer Archer," mused Andreas, 
 putting his hand to his temple. " Where have I 
 heard that ? " 
 
 His companion laughed low, enjoying his per 
 plexity. " You don't expect to compel me to tell 
 you that, I suppose ? " 
 
 "No," he answered absently, still chasing the 
 elusive memory. 
 
 " Then I '11 surprise you by ma generosity. 
 Might it have been at the University? " 
 
 A light broke over her companion's face. " My
 
 44 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 chum, Gerard. Best all-around fellow in the class. 
 Why, I do believe it was he. You were the little 
 girl whose picture stood in our room. He went to 
 West Point afterward. Why," more light irra 
 diating the questioning eyes, " it 's he confound 
 him ! it 's Roger Gerard who has been making 
 epigrams about me. It is he who is your army 
 officer." 
 
 " Indeed it is ; and wait till he hears how you 
 wasted my time at Mount Vernon, blocking the 
 way so rudely, and keeping me penned up in the 
 end of a blind alley ! He '11 do something more 
 than make epigrams." 
 
 " Was he I forget Is he any relation to 
 you?" 
 
 " No," returned Miss Archer loftily. " But 
 that does n't make any difference, does it? " 
 
 " N-no," replied Andreas.
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 PULPIT POINT. 
 
 SOMEBODY has likened a New England con 
 science to "a case of moral hives." That of 
 Priscilla Toothaker possessed the average local 
 irritability, and was not prone to allow inaction in 
 its owner. 
 
 Mrs. Dexter's letter had prepared her to receive 
 another from Nathalie ; and in due time this ar 
 rived. 
 
 It was a very pretty note which found Miss 
 Priscilla in Twombley, Connecticut, whither she 
 repaired on the first day of June, her Washington 
 duties ended. She left that city a mass of bloom 
 and foliage, which made Twombley look bleak by 
 contrast. Moreover, Miss Priscilla's family hav 
 ing one by one died or married, she no longer 
 lived in her old home in Twombley, but boarded, 
 when she was there, with a family who were suf 
 ficiently kind to her, but to whom her comings or 
 goings mattered little. 
 
 Miss Toothaker's conscience did not hesitate to 
 remind her that she was foot-loose, and that there 
 was no good and sufficient reason, beyond her own 
 disinclination, why she should not oblige Mrs. 
 Dexter at this time.
 
 46 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 "Neither," Miss Priscilla replied defiantly to 
 this suggestion, was she "at all beholden to the 
 Dexters." She had earned a right to a good vaca 
 tion, and no one could criticise her if she chose to 
 take it. 
 
 Miss Dexter had offered in that pretty note to 
 come in person to Twombley and talk things over 
 with Miss Toothaker, if that lady would like her 
 to do so. 
 
 "Like her to," repeated Priscilla suspiciously. 
 " I don't know as I like anything about it. I don't 
 know why they should pitch on me." 
 
 "Every reason," remarked Conscience inexora 
 bly. " They know how you are situated, and there 
 are very few perhaps no one else whom they 
 could call upon." 
 
 " Well, I won't be driven into it, so there ! " 
 said Miss Priscilla, quite to herself, and affecting 
 not to have heard this remark of Conscience at all. 
 " It '11 just be chaugin' the place and keepin' the 
 pain to go up there into Maine and cook and keep 
 house again all summer, and I 'm kind o' surprised 
 that Mrs. Dexter should ask it of me. Perhaps 
 it would be better for me to see the girl and talk 
 it out. I wonder what she 's like ? If she 's stuck 
 up, that '11 settle it." 
 
 So she told Nathalie she might come, and by 
 dint of constant strengthening of her own position 
 by arguments, and unremitting repression of Con 
 science that untiringly popped up like a Jack-in-
 
 PULPIT POINT. 47 
 
 the-box, she was able to assume a non-committal 
 and discouraging demeanor when one day she went 
 to the parlor to receive her young guest. 
 
 In spite of her knowledge that the child she re 
 membered must have passed twenty, it gave her a 
 sensation of surprise to be met by the graceful and 
 elegant young woman who rose at her entrance 
 into the dim and shaded room, and came to meet 
 her with cordial outstretched hand. 
 
 " Here I am, Miss Toothaker," said the girl 
 brightly. 
 
 Priscilla cautiously received the hand, her own 
 elbow trussed to her side. " I thought your hair 
 was red," she said, inspecting her. 
 
 The girl laughed frankly. " It did start out to 
 be, and it has n't entirely relented, you see. You 
 don't know how strange it seems to be in Twombley 
 again," she added, as they sat down together on 
 the haircloth sofa. " The depot has grown small, 
 and so have the rocks ; but the maples and beeches, 
 after all, one must come to Connecticut for 
 trees. You have only just returned, yourself." 
 
 " Yes. It does seem good to get home and settle 
 down again," returned Miss Toothaker, with subtle 
 intent ; and Conscience recoiled, for, in truth, there 
 was an emptiness and a homelessness about Twom 
 bley for Miss Priscilla of late years. 
 
 " I suppose it does. I 'm afraid you are n't at 
 all pleased with our proposition for the summer." 
 
 " Well, you see just how it is. I work pretty
 
 48 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 steady all winter, and summers I have the feeling 
 belong to me." 
 
 " Of course you do. Mother only thought that 
 as there would only be two of us " 
 
 " What two? " suspiciously. 
 
 " Why, you and me." 
 
 " Oh ! " 
 
 " and since Pulpit Point is a quiet, pleasant 
 resort, that you might not object to going there, if 
 you had no other plan. She had to think quick, 
 you know, for she decided so suddenly to let me 
 come without her." Nathalie bit her lip, and her 
 listener saw her eyes fill. " You don't know what 
 it has been to me to come back to Boston alone. 
 We 've never been separated before since papa 
 died. Twombley reminds me so of papa. O Miss 
 Toothaker, forgive me ! " 
 
 And, to Priscilla's vast astonishment, the next 
 moment her arms were embracing her guest's fine, 
 smooth jacket, and the jaunty quills of the hat 
 she had been admiring were crushed against her 
 shoulder. 
 
 Conscience viewed the situation, saw its chance 
 for an hour off, turned over, and went to sleep. 
 
 " Do cry if you want to, Nathalie. Do, child." 
 Miss Toothaker winked vigorously herself as she 
 patted her. "You know nobody liked your pa 
 any better 'n I did." 
 
 In a few minutes the girl sat up, wiped her eyes, 
 and straightened her hat.
 
 PULPIT POINT. 49 
 
 " There would be one thing about Pulpit Point 
 you might not like," she said, ignoring the little 
 shower, and trying to smile. " Do you dislike 
 hearing people practice on the piano ? " 
 
 " I don't know as I do." 
 
 " Because I want to work this summer. Work 
 with a capital W, you know. It will be good for 
 me in every way ; and I am pleased with the 
 thought of going where I don't know any one. I 
 can accomplish so much more. If it does n't suit 
 your plans to go, though " She paused. 
 
 " Well, what would you do then ? " 
 
 " I should stay in Boston, try to find an unex- 
 actirig boarding-place, keep the windows open, and 
 practice." 
 
 " Oh, I guess it would be better for you at the 
 seashore." 
 
 " Of course it would." Miss Dexter smiled 
 questioningly ; and as it had been settled in Pris- 
 cilla's mind that she was going to accede to her 
 proposal, from the moment Nathalie accomplished 
 the unconscious coup of weeping in her arms, the 
 matter was soon settled between them. 
 
 It was the last day of June when they opened 
 the cottage. 
 
 Pulpit Point is a bit of granite-bound land jut 
 ting into the water, the Pulpit itself being a huge 
 rock of striking form situated at the furthermost 
 point, rising above the surrounding ledges, and 
 looking out to sea as if to suggest a congregation 
 of mermen, maids, and fishes.
 
 50 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 The cottage placed at Nathalie's disposal was 
 breezily situated, only twenty rods from the Point, 
 and surrounded down to the rocks themselves by 
 hummocks of green grass ; most uneven ground, 
 which, if one walked over it by night, was full of 
 pitfalls into which a foot, dipping unexpectedly, 
 brought the jaws of the pedestrian together with a 
 snap. 
 
 " Cap'n Levi's pastur'," it had been for many a 
 year ; but cows and oxen are being turned out of 
 their happy hunting-grounds along the Maine coast 
 with almost the same persistence as met the 
 Indians before them. What Cap 'n Levi called 
 " bobbed wi-ar fence " curtailed the privileges of 
 the livestock at Pulpit Point, and although Cap'n 
 Levi gave it as his opinion that "the man who 
 invented bobbed wi-ar ought to had a roll on't 
 drawed through him," he yielded to custom and 
 used it, now that specimens of tired humanity from 
 the cities wanted his " pastur' lots " to rest in, un- 
 trampled by oxen. 
 
 Indeed, these odd human beings wanted so many 
 things that Cap'n Levi did not find it convenient 
 to go to sea any more, but stayed at home to sup 
 ply them from a little general store ; and they 
 wanted them so quickly that the oxen couldn't 
 move fast enough, so Cap'n Levi had to buy a 
 horse, of which he stood in considerable awe. 
 
 Nathalie and Miss Toothaker had not been long 
 at the Point before discovering that Cap'n Levi
 
 PULPIT POINT. 51 
 
 was the guide, philosopher, and friend to whom 
 they must turn in every emergency. 
 
 " Though molasses in winter ain't a patch on him 
 for slowness," commented Priscilla. 
 
 " We must just remember that we have all sum 
 mer," said Miss Dexter, when the captain went to 
 Portland for the second time and forgot a neces 
 sity she had sent for. 
 
 " Yes, it '11 be a real comfort to go back in the 
 fall and know we put those ceilin'-hooks up in the 
 closet before we left," returned Miss Toothaker; 
 but she laughed. Priscilla had laughed more in 
 the week since they came here than she had done 
 before in six months. The little cottage was 
 pretty, the kitchen convenient, and as she sat 
 down at table alone with Nathalie in a room where 
 every window framed a marine view, and con 
 trasted the situation with the fifteen hungry mouths 
 she had had to feed in the dark dining-room on 
 Fifteenth Street, she breathed many a sigh of in 
 ward content. 
 
 Nor was she grudging in letting Nathalie under 
 stand her satisfaction. " As convenient a house 
 as I 'd care to have," she remarked ; " but you '11 
 be lucky if I don't forget to work, lookin' out the 
 windows." 
 
 " Oh, I fancy the pangs of hunger will assail us 
 at about the same time," replied Miss Dexter. 
 
 Miss Toothaker's comments on the furnishings 
 of the cottage afforded the girl much amusement.
 
 52 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 Especially did Miss Priscilla take umbrage at the 
 Hawaiian tapas which decorated the living-room. 
 In vain Nathalie explained to her the interesting 
 handiwork of the natives, their only material being 
 pulp made from wood, and the coloring matter 
 from roots and berries. 
 
 " I could get calico for six cents that would be 
 more genteel," averred Miss Priscilla. " Those 
 sprawlin' patterns that look as if they was painted 
 in red clay and laid on with a stick ! The idea ! 
 But then, I didn't mean to hurt your feelin's. 
 It 's your cousin owns the cottage, and her taste 
 ain't any o' my business, and 't ain't the thing to 
 look a gift-horse in the mouth, either. I tell you, 
 Nathalie, this air alone is meat and drink, and a 
 very little clothing, as my mother used to say." 
 
 " It is fine ; and now, Miss Priscilla, we 're stran 
 gers here, and if we can do so without rudeness, I 
 want to remain so. Callers are such thieves of 
 time in summer. Let us look the other way all we 
 can." 
 
 Miss Toothaker sniffed, and eyed her companion 
 thoughtfully. " There 's a young man I 'm most 
 afraid will appear to me before the summer 's 
 over," she said. 
 
 "O Miss Priscilla! If you are going to have 
 followers ! " 
 
 " He 's a feller boards with me in Washington. 
 Says his folks come here summers. He 's a well- 
 meanin' young man, I think. He ain't real sensi-
 
 PULPIT POINT. 53 
 
 ble in his talk always, but I 'm kind o' used to 
 him." 
 
 " Now, Miss Priscilla, I can read partiality in 
 your eye." 
 
 " No, I don't know as you can." 
 
 " Snub him, snub him if he comes," said Natha 
 lie firmly. " Tell him to wait till you get back to 
 Washington." 
 
 Miss Toothaker smiled. " It makes me laugh, 
 'cause that 's just what he said. He said, says 
 he, ' I '11 come and see you, if Nathalie ain't very 
 disagreeable,' says he." 
 
 Miss Dexter's bright eyes grew brighter in her 
 surprise. " How charming ! " she ejaculated. 
 
 " Oh, he } s always sayin' those gassy things. I 'd 
 told him about your mother's letter, that 's all. 
 Mr. Andreas did n't know a thing about you, of 
 course." 
 
 "Andreas! " with a quick sigh. "The dearest 
 man in the world is named Andreas." 
 
 "Nathalie Dexter! Why, I never thought of 
 such a thing till this minute ! Are you engaged? " 
 
 The girl shook her head mournfully. "Alas! 
 no. He is a priest." 
 
 " Russell Andreas, this man I was talking about, 
 has got a brother, a priest." 
 
 " Why, it must be the same ! Is n't that an odd 
 coincidence ? How very odd ! Well, it will be 
 hard, then, for Nathalie to be very disagreeable to 
 him ; but I shall be firm ! "
 
 54 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 And now all was ready for the most important 
 member of the family, namely, the piano. 
 
 Nathalie was obliged to have recourse to Cap'n 
 Levi several times on this subject, and one morn 
 ing she found him coming around the side of his 
 store. 
 
 " Jest killed a skunk out he-ar in my hen-house," 
 he announced conversationally. 
 
 " Are there skunks at Pulpit Point ? " with 
 horror. 
 
 " Plenty of 'em, plenty of 'em," was the cheerful 
 response. " Guess ef the wind wa'n't east, you 'd 
 find out right now there was one, anyway," and 
 Cap'n Levi exhibited a solitary tooth in a wide 
 chuckle at the girl's look of consternation. " Wood- 
 pussies, the cawtage folks calls 'em. They do kind 
 o' favor cats, you know. Kin I do anything fer 
 ye?" 
 
 "Yes. You know I was talking to you about 
 my piano. Well, the people in Portland say they 
 will deliver it for me at this dock, but that I shall 
 have to get it up to the house myself ; and that 
 means that you will have to bring it." 
 
 "Does, hey? Dunno as I ever hauled a plan 
 ner." 
 
 " Oh, Vixen will do it beautifully," said Natha 
 lie persuasively. 
 
 Cap'n Levi scratched his head. " When 's she 
 due?" 
 
 " It will come down to-morrow by the afternoon 
 boat."
 
 PULPIT POINT. 55 
 
 " Wall, I hope it don't rain and make the goin' 
 bad," observed the captain. "Vixen ud balk, 
 like 's not." 
 
 He evidently felt a weight of responsibility at 
 the prospect, but the next afternoon's boat-time 
 found him at the dock with his wagon, watching 
 the incoming steamer with a boding countenance. 
 
 So great was his absorption in looking for the 
 piano that he did not notice a familiar figure which 
 left the boat with the other passengers, and after 
 exchanging salutations with several lounging Pulpit 
 Pointers, approached the open-mouthed captain. 
 
 " Wake up, Cap'n Levi. Are n't you going to 
 speak to me ? " cried the newcomer. 
 
 " Hello, that you, Russell ? " absently allowing 
 his hard hand to be gripped. 
 
 " What 's the matter, cap'n ? You look as if 
 you 'd lost ten dollars and found a quarter." 
 
 " Seen anythin' of a pianner ? Thar thar 't is 
 now. They 're a-puttin' her off ! " 
 
 " What 's this ? You been investing in a piano ? 
 Made your fortune ? " 
 
 " It 's Miss Dexter's pianner, an' she expects me 
 to haul it fer her." 
 
 " Oh, there is too much style coming to the 
 Pulpit. Dexter is a new name." 
 
 All the same, Andreas was wondering why it had 
 a vaguely familiar sound. 
 
 " She 's darned set, that 's all I know," mut 
 tered the harassed captain. "One o' the sort '11
 
 56 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 never let ye rest, if she wants anythin'. She looks 
 jest as pleasant 's a curly, bright-eyed lamb ; but, 
 b' gosh, if she ain't worse 'n Miss Toothaker, come 
 right down to it." 
 
 Russell Andreas smiled in enlightenment. 
 
 " I '11 help you, Cap'n Levi," he said generously. 
 " Don't be excited." 
 
 The captain accepted this offer eagerly ; but he 
 was excited and, moreover, he retained command 
 of the expedition. As several hands hoisted the 
 upright piano upon the wagon, Vixen laid her ears 
 back inquiringly. She was tied and double-tied, 
 after the captain's usual cautious fashion, for he 
 lived in a state of constant apprehension as to pos 
 sible outbreaks of his steed. 
 
 " Stiddy, stiddy ! " he cried, as the piano settled 
 into place. " Ketch this rope and make her fast 
 across thar, so 's the thing won't slip out the stern 
 o' the wagon. Now we 're ready," to Russell. 
 " Cast off, will ye ? " 
 
 "Ay, ay, sir," returned Andreas, and untied the 
 mare. Then he jumped up beside the ex-mariner, 
 and Vixen started. 
 
 Nathalie was watching the approach eagerly from 
 the open window, whither came stentorian " Gees " 
 and " Haws " as Cap'n Levi guided his mare up 
 the stony road. 
 
 " Oh, Miss Toothaker," she called to Priscilla, 
 who was busy in the kitchen, " they 've sent a man 
 from Portland with the piano, after all."
 
 PULPIT POINT. 57 
 
 " That 's clever," came the reply. 
 
 " It is a relief to me. I was so afraid these 
 poor fishermen would break their backs trying to 
 handle it." 
 
 So saying, Miss Dexter came out upon the piazza 
 and waited, until with many a jolt, the wagon with 
 its precious burden drew up to the house, and 
 stopped. 
 
 The sunshine picked out the red lights in her 
 chestnut hair, and the satisfaction of the moment 
 made her bright youth radiant to look upon as she 
 stood there. She beamed upon Andreas with an 
 approving smile. 
 
 " Good-afternoon. I 'm very glad you could 
 come," she said. " They are not accustomed to 
 moving pianos down here." 
 
 Andreas smiled appreciatively after his first sur 
 prise, and accepted the role thrust upon him. 
 
 " Think we can h'ist her alone ? " asked the cap 
 tain doubtfully. 
 
 " Easy as lying. This is n't like the dock, you 
 know." 
 
 Nathalie watched eagerly as, with many a grunt 
 and " Stiddy, thar," from Cap'n Levi, the piano 
 was moved inside. She directed where it should 
 be placed, giving Russell many a quick command 
 in the transit, and smiled with satisfaction when 
 she saw the coveted instrument safely at her dis 
 posal at last.
 
 58 MISS ARCHES ARCHER. 
 
 " Now, it was n't so very bad, Cap'n Levi, was 
 it ? " she asked coaxingly. 
 
 " "Wall, I hope ye '11 get an orgin next time. 
 Want to go along o' me, Russell ? " turning to his 
 able assistant. 
 
 " No, thanks." 
 
 A movement of Vixen's head, visible through 
 the open window, attracted the notice of her anx 
 ious owner. " Hi, thar ! Hi, thar ! " he cried, and, 
 hastening out, mounted into his wagon and drove 
 away. 
 
 Andreas regarded Nathalie soberly. " What 
 a man for such a position ! " she thought. " Did 
 they want me to pay you to-day? " she asked. 
 
 "By no means," he returned, with a gesture 
 which was the most polite disclaimer ; but he made 
 no movement to go. 
 
 " Then I should like to ask you to sit down 
 and rest," said Nathalie civilly ; " but you have not 
 much more than time to catch the boat on its 
 return from Mericoneag." 
 
 " Thank you. I am not going back to Portland 
 to-day." 
 
 Miss Dexter returned his gaze, bewildered. He 
 smiled into her eyes, and she retreated and colored. 
 There was some awful blunder here. He was too 
 oh, too many things to be a piano-mover. Be 
 side, he looked so much like somebody. Who 
 was it? She groped wildly for the fleeting 
 memory.
 
 PULPIT POINT. 59 
 
 " I have made a mistake," she stammered. 
 
 " You have given me a pleasure, Miss Dexter." 
 
 That little bow ; the tone ; the turn of the head. 
 Ah ! she had it now. " Mr. Eussell Andreas ! " 
 she ejaculated. 
 
 " There is evidently no resisting fame," he re 
 marked, surprised. 
 
 " You see, your brother " - she exclaimed 
 eagerly. 
 
 " Indeed ? Why, I 'm so glad I am Lewis's 
 brother. I find it such a recommendation." 
 
 " You look so like him." 
 
 " Miss Dexter," plaintively. " That grows mo 
 notonous. Could n't you find it in your heart to 
 detect some resemblance in Lewis to me? " 
 
 Miss Toothaker suddenly appeared in the door 
 way, rubbing her forehead with her wrist. " Oh, 
 'tis you. I thought 't was your voice." 
 
 " Miss Pris ! The only woman I ever loved ! " 
 
 " Look out ! I 'm all flour. I can't shake 
 hands. Glad to see you, though. You 've got 
 acquainted with Miss Dexter, I see." 
 
 " Mr. Andreas moved my piano with Cap'n Levi. 
 I am under the greatest obligation to him." Na 
 thalie spoke with fervor. 
 
 After Russell had taken his departure, saying he 
 had not yet reported to his own household, she sat 
 down with hot cheeks and, laughing heartily, told 
 Priscilla her experience. 
 
 " I shan't stop blushing for a month ! I ordered
 
 60 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 him about so. You should have heard me!" she 
 finished. 
 
 Miss Toothaker's low laugh rumbled forth as an 
 echo. " Well, I s'pose he 's come to the seashore 
 for change," she remarked.
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 AMATEUR SURGERY. 
 
 IT was a glorious morning. The clear green 
 waves were rollicking about the Pulpit. Out on 
 the ledges snowy garlands of foam sent up a fine, 
 smoke-like spray, and the gull's wing was whiter 
 as it rose from the crested wave. 
 
 It was one of the mornings when the breathing 
 apparatus seems too limited. One opens one's 
 arms to the sunlit air, and lifts a thankful face 
 toward the downy fluffs of cloud along the blue. 
 
 Miss Priscilla had lagged in her determination 
 to shake rugs. She had left them hanging over 
 the piazza rail, and gone to see how her grass was 
 coming on. She was helping Nature to clothe 
 a bare patch of ground, which had lacked either 
 time or courage to procure a new garment since 
 those ruthless times of digging when the cottage 
 was built. 
 
 Smiling at the tiny clover leaves which scrutiny 
 revealed in the brown earth, she rose at last, hum 
 ming a tune, and went back to her rugs. She had 
 shaken one, and was turning to get another, when 
 the figure of an approaching man caught her atten 
 tion. He was a stranger to her, and he was about
 
 62 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 to pass near the piazza. Instantly her precious 
 baby clover occurred to her. She waved to him 
 warningly. " Keep off the grass ! " she called sud 
 denly. 
 
 The startled stranger leaped aside, directly upon 
 the long brown patch. 
 
 Instantly Miss Toothaker's voice rang out in a 
 transport of feeling : " That is the grass ! " 
 
 The stranger leaped back again, and laughed. 
 So did Miss Priscilla. It was such a jubilant 
 morning, and the treasured spot was so bare. 
 " Excuse me ; but it 's just beginnin','' she ex 
 plained, " and I do want to get it covered." 
 
 "Why don't you put a little fence around it? " 
 suggested the young man, lifting his cap, as he 
 paused to contemplate the forbidden ground. " It 
 lies too temptingly in the path to the shore." 
 
 " That would be a good idea," replied Miss 
 Toothaker. 
 
 " There 's no time like the present. If you have 
 some twine, why should n't we do it now ? I '11 be 
 glad to atone for the blow my heels have dealt 
 your hopes." 
 
 Miss Priscilla looked at him in some surprise at 
 the offer of assistance. He was well built, with 
 broad shoulders, strong-looking hands, and goodly 
 length of limb ; but his face was pale, and his 
 mustache not so heavy as to conceal that his lips, 
 too, told mutely the need of precisely this invigo 
 rating air. His eyes were remarkable, and as he
 
 AMATEUR SURGERY. 63 
 
 made his proposition, they held Miss Toothaker in 
 momentary admiration of the light in their radi 
 ant brown depths. 
 
 " I 'm sure you 're very good," she said rather 
 awkwardly. Then she added, her lips twitching : 
 " You 've got a good deal of energy for a South 
 erner." 
 
 The young man lifted his eyebrows in quiet 
 amusement. " How do you know I 'm a South 
 erner ? " 
 
 "I haven't lived in Washington two winters 
 without learnin' to know a Southerner when I 
 hear him." 
 
 " Oh, when you hear him," said the other, smil 
 ing. " Well, may I help you ? " 
 
 The manner of the question enchanted Miss 
 Priscilla. There was no impatience in it; but a 
 quiet courtesy, and just a suggestion of deference. 
 
 " Yes, if you really want to ; and thank you, 
 too," she answered promptly, and disappeared. 
 
 Miss Dexter was busily sending scales rippling 
 out the window to the waiting stranger. Miss 
 Toothaker stooped in passing, and spoke : 
 
 " There 's a gentleman come to Pulpit Point." 
 
 "Indeed?" 
 
 " Yes, I 've got another follower ; " and Miss 
 Priscilla hastened on. Returning a minute later, 
 she spoke again, while Nathalie's deft fingers 
 raced on. 
 
 " You and I are kind o' high-toned in the help
 
 64 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 we employ. If you know what 's good for your 
 self, you 'd better peek after a while. He 's got 
 eyes like the Hindoos at the World's Fair." 
 
 These mysterious words moved Miss Dexter, 
 when she had finished her scales, and before she 
 proceeded to the next step in her morning's work, 
 to go cautiously to the window and reconnoitre. 
 
 What she beheld was her housekeeper and a 
 strange man erecting a protection of sticks and 
 twine around a bare spot of earth. As Nathalie 
 was not unaware of Miss Toothaker's hopes and 
 her clover nursery, she saw at once what was going 
 on, and gazed amusedly for a time at the pair, 
 without being able to catch more than a glimpse 
 of the man's face ; then she returned to her work, 
 much to the satisfaction of Miss Toothaker's 
 helper, for he had a passion for music, and was 
 sufficiently intelligent in it to deduce the existence 
 of better things from the avalanche of thirds and 
 sixths, whose ceaseless flow from the windows pro 
 claimed an accomplished pianist. 
 
 "Now, then, I can have some hope," said Miss 
 Priscilla, looking fondly at her incipient grass, 
 when their task was done. " And you, sir, you 
 can remember this evenin' that verse : 
 
 ' Count that day lost whose low, descendin' sun 
 Views from thy baud no worthy action done.' 
 
 Seein' the way I hollered at you, I consider your 
 action uncommonly worthy."
 
 AMATEUR SURGERY. 65 
 
 The young man, his cap set back on the thick 
 hair that waved loosely above his forehead, regarded 
 his completed handiwork, and then looked off to 
 ward the dancing waves, tumultuous this morning, 
 apparently, from mere excess of frolicsome joy. 
 
 " It is a pleasure just to live on a day like this, 
 is n't it ? " he said in his deliberate, reposeful man 
 ner. " I must continue my explorations, and," 
 lifting his cap, " I hope I shall not do any more 
 damage." 
 
 Miss Toothaker looked after him as he walked 
 on, fascinated. "Yes, a gentleman has come to 
 Pulpit Point," she mused. " I hope Mr. Andreas 
 will get back in time to entertain him." 
 
 For Russell's stay had been short on his first 
 trip to Maine, though upon his departure he had 
 cheered Miss Priscilla by the assurance of his 
 speedy return. 
 
 The stranger moved 011 down to the shore, and 
 ascending into the Pulpit, vaulted up on one of its 
 massive sides, and sat there viewing the kaleido 
 scopic changes before him, until the incoming tide 
 had sprayed him well. Then turning his steps 
 inland again, he began to hear faintly the tones 
 of Nathalie's piano. His rather mournful eyes 
 brightened at the sound, and he moved faster, 
 leaping from cradle-knoll to cradle-knoll, until he 
 had drawn near the cottage. A large solitary 
 boulder invited him to eavesdrop. 
 
 Throwing himself down on the further side of
 
 66 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 the rock, he gave himself up to enjoyment. He 
 did not know the Praeludium that Nathalie was 
 playing ; indeed, he knew very little music by 
 name save the music of his band. Neither would 
 he have excused this fact by the betise of declaring 
 that he " knew what he liked," astonishing plati 
 tude, which falls complacently from the lips of 
 many a person who might be expected to pause 
 and consider that instead of being peculiar, this 
 fact is really one of those things which goes with 
 out saying. 
 
 What he did comprehend was that a plaintive 
 melody with strange and alluring intervals and 
 rhythm was coming to him from an invisible 
 source, enriched by a rippling accompaniment, and 
 that the same flowed on under an assured touch, 
 now strong and fiery, now modulated to a delicate 
 whisper, and that it gained a wonderful enchant 
 ment from the limitless view of sea and rock and 
 scudding cloud all about him. 
 
 Day-dreams, sweet, vague, visited him, lying 
 there in the soft grass, his senses enthralled. He 
 lost all count of the passage of time while the 
 music went on, varying movements succeeding one 
 another in delicious succession as the player, un 
 conscious of a listener, exhausted her repertoire. 
 
 At last, after a triumphal climax of chords, the 
 tones ceased. 
 
 " Miss Priscilla," called a voice distinctly. 
 " Is n't dinner almost ready ? I 'm starved."
 
 AMATEUR SURGERY. 67 
 
 The lotos-eater under the lichens started guiltily, 
 and seized his watch. " Mine hostess ! mine host 
 ess ! What shall I say?" he ejaculated, horrified. 
 
 Miss Toothaker saw a form skim by her kitchen 
 window. 
 
 " I do believe there goes my gentleman on the 
 dead run. He 'd better look out. He 's been sick, 
 or I miss my guess." 
 
 She was watering the precious clover when he 
 went by the next day, and she returned his salu 
 tation with a friendly nod. 
 
 " You don't want to be too smart," she said. 
 " I saw you runnin' yesterday. You must remem 
 ber you 've been sick." 
 
 " I 'm bound to remember that, for if I had n't 
 been ill I should n't be here," he returned. " I 
 can't regret it, you see." 
 
 " Yes ; I don't know as ever I was in a more 
 sightly place. Well, get strong as fast as you can. 
 We've got all the air there is up here." 
 
 " Looks paler 'n ever," she muttered when he 
 had passed on. " Sober-lookin' feller, too. I 'd 
 go out o' my way, though, to see him smile, any 
 day. Wonder if he ain't lonely. Wonder if 
 he 's boardiri' at that little one-horse hotel. I 'd 
 like to cook him a meal o' victuals myself. Ain't 
 he as straight as a die ! " 
 
 All of which goes to prove what good capital it 
 is for a young man to possess a pair of long, Ori 
 ental-looking eyes, and a serious, interesting cast 
 of countenance.
 
 68 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 Miss Toothaker did not forget him when she 
 went into the house. On the contrary, she ad 
 dressed Nathalie, busy at the piano, with a lack of 
 candor so new as to sit awkwardly upon her. 
 
 " Now, I 'm goin' to make a fuss about this, Na 
 thalie. You sat here the whole livin' mornm' 
 yesterday, and to-day 's so perfect, it 's a regular 
 weather-breeder. There '11 be plenty o' storms 
 when you can sit and thump those keys. Do you 
 get up now and go down to the rocks for half 
 an hour, anyhow. I know your mother 'd say so." 
 
 " Yes, I do know she 'd say so," muttered Miss 
 Priscilla, when Nathalie had protested, then 
 laughed, then obeyed. " How do I know she '11 
 meet him ? And what if she does ? I don't s'pose 
 he 'd speak to her, lonely as he is ; but he '11 see 
 there is somebody here beside a hatchet-faced old 
 woman, and then maybe it '11 come around." And 
 Miss Priscilla smiled dreamily out of one side of 
 her mouth as her imagination leaped forward 
 and began to draw the menu which she would 
 serve to the straight, pale young man who had 
 built her fence, when the conventions permitted of 
 his being invited to dinner. 
 
 Nathalie, hatless, happy, went singing down to 
 the rocks. Miss Toothaker was right. Pianos we 
 can always have, but only one month in the year is 
 it July on the Maine coast. 
 
 Lightly she ran up into the Pulpit, and stand 
 ing on tiptoe to lean her elbows on its edge, looked
 
 AMATEUR SURGERY. 69 
 
 down into a clear pool, left below by the tide. 
 Starfish, anemones, hermit crabs, urchins, swam, 
 palpitated, crept, before her. Millions of barna 
 cles crusted the rocks. 
 
 The breakers rushed past the Point in orderly, 
 stately procession, and the neighboring island lifted 
 its clump of evergreens like a crown. 
 
 " Why thus longing, thus forever sighing 
 For the far-off, unattained, and dim 
 
 (that 's Paderewski), 
 
 While the beautiful, all 'round thee lying, 
 Offers up its low, perpetual hymn ? " 
 
 she quoted aloud, in her splendid solitude. 
 
 Her voice brought from behind a neighboring 
 ledge the man Miss Priscilla had shamelessly sent 
 her down to see. 
 
 For an instant their eyes met. Nathalie, her 
 uncovered curly head glorified in sunshine, address 
 ing the universe from the Pulpit, was a preoccu 
 pying sight. Miss Toothaker's protege had not 
 taken the precaution to wear rubber-soled shoes ; 
 and that was the way it happened. 
 
 In endeavoring not to stare at Miss Dexter, and, 
 moreover, trying to get out of her way, he leaped 
 to a rock which chanced to be covered with treach 
 erous, slimy weed, and fell in a way to strike his 
 knee against the massive ledge he had just quitted. 
 
 He uttered a suppressed exclamation, and then 
 lay still. Nathalie came flying down to him. 
 
 "Are you hurt?"
 
 70 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 " Pardon me ; but I believe my knee-cap 's 
 off. Yes, it is." 
 
 "Don't touch it again. Don't move it," she 
 said imperatively. " I think I can I '11 try. 
 Put your arms around these rocks and hold your 
 self firmly. Can you hold?" Unhesitatingly 
 she stepped to his feet, and seizing the heel belong 
 ing to the injured leg, she pulled with all the 
 strength of her young, piano-trained arms ; then, 
 when the strain was at the utmost, she gave a 
 quick, sharp jerk. 
 
 Her victim bit his white lips. Her heart beat 
 suffocatingly. She felt of his knee. " It seems to 
 have gone back. Oh, are you going to faint ? " 
 
 "Faint! No." 
 
 " The tide is just turning, but it won't reach 
 you. I '11 send some men down at once, and get 
 the doctor. What cottage ? " 
 
 " Andreas." 
 
 She fled up the hill and by the house. Miss 
 Toothaker saw her pass. " Seems to be somethin' 
 in this air that makes folks terribly frisky," she 
 remarked. " Wonder where Nathalie 's bound, 
 goin' like the wind. Wonder," Miss Priscilla's 
 shoulders twitched up, and she murmured it half 
 guiltily, " wonder if she saw him." 
 
 Cap'n Levi, his chair tilted back against the 
 sunny side of his store, was entertaining some 
 other leisurely Pulpit Pointers with an account of 
 the manner in which the day before he had disci-
 
 AMATEUR SURGERY. ' 71 
 
 plined the small son of one of the cottagers who was 
 making himself dangerously at home in one of the 
 fishing-boats moored near by. 
 
 " I was out in my dory, and I see him monkeyin' 
 aronnd thar, tryin' to drown himself, and I says 
 to him, says I: 'Come out o' that bo't,' says I. 
 'Whose bo't is this?' says he; jest like that. I 
 saw it wa'n't no time for cawnversation, so I took 
 him by the collar, and the breast of his breeches, 
 and hove him ashore. Who 's this runnin' ? 
 Why, it 's Miss Dexter." 
 
 For Nathalie's flying feet had brought her upon 
 the nonchalant conclave, a sudden, breathless 
 apparition. . 
 
 " Where does the doctor live ? " she demanded. 
 
 "Who's sick?" drawled Cap'n Levi ; but one 
 of the younger men pointed out the way. 
 
 " Two of you go right down to the rocks by 
 the Pulpit," she went on, catching her breath. 
 " There 's a man there hurt so he can't walk. Take 
 him to the Andreas cottage. You '11 let me take 
 Vixen, Cap'n Levi? Unfasten her, please." She 
 turned to the fellow who had given her informa 
 tion, and he started to the spot where, as usual, 
 the horse-of-all-work stood ready harnessed. 
 
 " You can't never drive her in this world ! " 
 said Cap'n Levi, startled at last out of his apathy, 
 and hurrying forward as he protested. 
 
 " I think I can do it quicker than you," replied 
 the girl.
 
 72 WISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 " She '11 run away and kill ye, like 's not," 
 shouted Cap'n Levi after her, as the inare started 
 at a good pace, " and you '11 pay fer her, let me 
 tell ye. B' gosh ! if she ain't the settest piece that 
 ever come to the Pulpit," he added in an aggrieved 
 tone, watching his wagon go jouncing over obsta 
 cles, as Vixen rattled along under the excited 
 urging of her new driver. 
 
 " We 'd better hustle after the feller," remarked 
 one of the bystanders, grinning. " She looks as if 
 she 'd make the fur fly, if folks kep' her waitin'." 
 
 Had Cap'n Levi been her messenger, Nathalie 
 would assuredly have blamed him for the doctor's 
 tardy arrival ; for, with her best efforts, it was 
 nearly two hours after the accident that he was 
 brought to the door of the Andreas cottage, and 
 Miss Dexter, dropping him, drove slowly back to 
 Cap'n Levi's store. 
 
 To her relief the place was deserted, as was often 
 the case. She tied the horse, then patted her, and 
 laid her cheek against the smooth neck. 
 
 Meanwhile the country doctor was congratulat 
 ing his patient while he examined him. " Mighty 
 good thing for you, young man, that you were n't 
 alone when this happened to you. That knee-cap 's 
 been off, and now it 's on again. Miss Dexter 
 was n't sure whether she 'd done right or wrong ; 
 but I can tell you now that if that cap had been 
 off all the time that plucky girl has been chasing 
 'round after me, you 'd have been lame for life"
 
 AMATEUR SURGERY. 73 
 
 The patient shook his head. " A bad thing in 
 my profession." 
 
 "A bad thing in any profession, I take it. 
 Says her father was a physician, and he told her 
 how," said the doctor, whose thoughts had harked 
 back to Nathalie. She had made a deep impres 
 sion on him, with her uncovered head, her bright 
 eyes, and her reckless driving in the old wagon. 
 " Well, we '11 fix you up in a little plaster, and 
 you '11 go around here a few weeks on crutches, and 
 after that you '11 be as good as new, Mr." 
 
 " Gerard." An added mutter of impatience set 
 the doctor off again. 
 
 " Yes, 't- ain't pleasant ; but think what it might 
 have been. You '11 let Miss Dexter know that 
 you 're all right as soon as convenient, I hope. 
 She 's all worked up about it, you understand," 
 were the last words the doctor said in leaving. 
 
 His motive was most benevolent. He had no 
 doubt that there was a romance here, and the agi 
 tation which the girl had betrayed concerning her 
 own part in the affair had been so highly becom 
 ing that he pitied his patient for not having seen 
 her while she related the experience. 
 
 His astonishment would have been great could 
 he have known that the two young people were 
 strangers, and that he had informed Gerard of the 
 name of his friend in need. 
 
 " Dexter." Roger fitted the name to the figure 
 he had seen as a sudden bright vision in the gray
 
 74 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 Pulpit. All her subsequent, quick-witted action 
 seemed like things seen and felt and heard in a 
 painful dream. 
 
 A keen appreciation of the absurdity of his own 
 position afflicted him. " I hope her sense of 
 humor is latent," he thought. " Rusty will never 
 let me hear the last of this. I '11 never chafe at 
 conventions again. The young lady ought by 
 every precedent to have sprained her ankle and let 
 me carry her lightly and gracefully to the house. 
 I wonder if I could have done it ? " 
 
 He was in bed, and he bared his arm and 
 examined his muscles. "Hang typhoid fever," he 
 observed. " And now comes this handicap I 
 mean knee-cap. What next ? " 
 
 As for Nathalie, she went laggingly home from 
 the store. 
 
 " Well, I thought you was lost," observed Miss 
 Toothaker when she came in. " Why, you are 
 pale as a ghost! What in the world possessed 
 you to run so hard ? What why " 
 
 For Nathalie had sat down in the nearest chair, 
 and now, bowing her face in her hands, began to 
 sob. 
 
 " Nathalie Dexter, what has happened ? " im 
 plored Miss Priscilla, stooping beside her. 
 
 "I'm I'm enjoying it," declared the girl 
 thickly. 
 
 Miss Toothaker's conscience alertly suggested 
 that in some mysterious way she was probably to
 
 AMATEUR SURGERY. 75 
 
 blame for this ; and indeed, when her companion 
 had become calm and told her story, Priscilla had 
 a heightened color. 
 
 " You see, it was my shouting out so suddenly, 
 thinking I was all alone, that made him turn 
 quickly and slip on that weed," explained Nathalie 
 forlornly. 
 
 " H'm," returned Miss Priscilla. " I won't say 
 anything against your practicin' mornin's, after 
 this. I find usually it 's first rate policy to keep 
 in mind that firm that made so much money 
 mindin' its own business ! "
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 AN IMPROMPTU PICNIC. 
 
 MY DEAR Miss DEXTER, The doctor told me 
 yesterday that but for your prompt action, the 
 injury to my knee would have resulted in chronic 
 lameness. The surgeon who came from Portland 
 to see me this morning confirms his words. Your 
 presence of mind, your kindness in going in person 
 to bring the doctor for an utter stranger, these 
 are favors for which thanks seem tame ; but I ask 
 you to believe, Miss Dexter, that your noble action 
 will be held forever in grateful memory. 
 Sincerely yours, 
 
 ROGER GERARD. 
 
 This was the note Nathalie received on the fol 
 lowing morning. She read it to Miss Toothaker, 
 who listened approvingly, her chin resting on her 
 hand. 
 
 " He 's got a sense of what 's becomin', I tell 
 you," she commented triumphantly. " Did n't I 
 say he was a gentleman ? " 
 
 Nathalie looked beyond her. " He hates me for 
 it," she said with conviction. 
 
 " You must be crazy," returned Miss Priscilla 
 with vast contempt.
 
 AN IMPROMPTU PICNIC. 77 
 
 " Yes, he does. He hates to feel that he, a man, 
 was put in a humiliating position. Mr. Andreas 
 will tell his friends." 
 
 Miss Dexter had seen considerable of Russell 
 before he took his forced departure from the Pul 
 pit, and she thought she knew him. 
 
 "Hate you! The idea! That letter don't 
 sound much like it. " 
 
 Neither did the box of roses which reached 
 Nathalie the next day seem to evidence an unchar 
 itable heart. She lifted the card which lay on top 
 of the tissue paper. 
 
 "Lieutenant Roger Gerard, Artillery, 
 
 U. S. A.,"- she read aloud. " Miss Toothaker," 
 excitedly, "he is an officer ! " 
 
 " And a gentleman," added Priscilla, with sono 
 rous devoutness. " Oh, he hates you, he hates you 
 bad," she added, lifting out the glowing roses, 
 which Nathalie had forgotten for the fascinating 
 bit of pasteboard. 
 
 " This is nothing. I dare say he will keep on 
 sending me flowers. If a box should come every 
 day, it wouldn't surprise me in the least. He 
 loathes his obligation. He writhes under it. He 
 will try to work it off. You watch," announced 
 Nathalie oracularly. 
 
 " The cat's foot in the bandbox ! " returned Miss 
 Priscilla contemptuously. 
 
 It was a few days afterward that she was going 
 out the front door with a rug, when she was sur-
 
 78 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 prised by an apparition at the far end of the 
 piazza. It was Mr. Gerard seated there in a chair, 
 his crutches leaning against the rail near him. 
 
 She exclaimed, and he laid a finger on his lips, 
 and then pointed toward the invisible piano where 
 Nathalie was playing a Bach fugue. 
 
 Miss Toothaker understood. He enjoyed the 
 music, and he did not wish to have the player dis 
 turbed. So she stood silently beaming a welcome 
 upon him for a moment, and inwardly bemoaning 
 the pallor of his countenance ; then, after shaking 
 her rug, she turned back into the house and went 
 about her business in the kitchen. 
 
 Nathalie played on for nearly an hour ; then 
 Miss Toothaker could stand it no longer. As the 
 pianist came to the end of a piece, she put her 
 head in at the living-room door. 
 
 " Do go out on the piazza for a breath," she 
 said. " The air ? s like wine." 
 
 Nathalie, humming what she had last played, 
 obeyed mechanically. Outside the door she was 
 met by the unexpected sight of Roger. He arose. 
 
 "Don't don't rise, Mr. Gerard," she begged, 
 hurrying toward him. 
 
 " Thank you, but I am becoming quite proficient 
 in standing on one leg like a stork." 
 
 They shook hands. 
 
 " Why did n't you let me know you were here ? " 
 
 " I was so well entertained. I only prayed you 
 would not stop."
 
 AN IMPROMPTU PICNTC. 79 
 
 " Oh, do you care for it ? I am so glad, for then 
 perhaps I can make up I mean I can yes " 
 she caught her breath, " I believe I can't Isn't 
 it a beautiful morning ? " 
 
 The vivacious face had grown so flushed that 
 Roger was mystified by her embarrassment. 
 
 " Never mind the chair. Let me wait on my 
 self," she went on, and then blushed deeper. " I 
 know it must be so annoying for you not to be 
 able to do everything, so trying for a man to be 
 laid up this way. I know how they dislike to 
 be waited on. I I " she stammered, and then, 
 as Roger said to himself, she ran down. 
 
 Her whole manner was so hesitating, so doubtful, 
 so different from the prompt decision she had 
 shown in their former memorable meeting, he was 
 puzzled by it -for a second, and then the explana 
 tion came over him in a flash. 
 
 " She is sorry for me because I was ridiculous, 
 nearly fainted, and all the rest of it. Of course. 
 She plays that way. It was mighty hard on her, 
 the whole thing." After which mental aside he 
 proceeded to reply. 
 
 " Yes, this accident was rather unfortunate for 
 a convalescent. I was ill all the spring, the 
 first time in my life, too. If the fortunes of peace 
 are going to treat me so badly, I shall have to pray 
 to try the fortunes of war. Mrs. Andreas sent 
 kind messages to you. She says her son explained 
 her invalidism to you, and that she does not visit 
 at all."
 
 80 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 It was a fortnight after this meeting that Mr. 
 Russell Andreas arrived again at his summer 
 home. His friend had deemed it best to write 
 him an outlined account of the misfortune which 
 had befallen him, thinking that if by the time 
 Russell reached home it had become an old story, 
 he might escape some chaffing. 
 
 Gerard went to meet him on his crutches the 
 morning of his arrival, and the two friends ex 
 changed the heartiest of greetings after their years 
 of separation, inspecting one another with affection 
 ate scrutiny. 
 
 " It 's a confounded shame." declared Andreas. 
 " Here you were seedy from the fever, anyway. 
 It seems like kicking a fellow when he 's down, 
 does n't it ? You 've a fine red nose on you, 
 though. How soon are you going to throw away 
 these wooden legs ? " 
 
 " In a week more, I think." 
 
 " Say," Andreas chuckled, " is n't the military 
 intellect up to a more romantic way of scraping 
 acquaintance with a pretty girl than that? I'm 
 surprised at you ! " 
 
 Gerard smiled philosophically. 
 
 " Miss Dexter, too," went on Andreas. " Nice, 
 well-bred girl she seemed to be, what I saw of her. 
 I had n't an idea she 'd pull your leg " 
 
 " See here, Rusty. Leave her out of it." 
 
 " Why, where would the story be then ? " laughed 
 Andreas.
 
 AN IMPROMPTU PICNIC. 81 
 
 " Forgotten, I hope. At any rate, I want to 
 know if you are intending to speak to Miss Dexter 
 about it ? " 
 
 Andreas well remembered this extra soft and 
 slow speech of his college chum, and what it 
 meant. 
 
 " I refuse to fight a crippled man," he declared, 
 highly entertained. 
 
 " You have some imagination, Andreas." 
 
 " Thanks, old man." 
 
 " Please apply it right here, in regard to Miss 
 Dexter's standpoint in this matter. I won't have 
 her chaffed.'' 
 
 " Sure you won't ? " 
 
 " Sure I won't stay to see it, anyway. Listen, 
 Rusty : it was awfully white in you to insist on 
 my coming up here, when we hadn't met in so 
 long. I did n't know how much I needed it till I 
 breathed this air ; but we '11 call it off right now 
 unless you give me your promise not to refer to 
 the part Miss Dexter played in my accident, at 
 any rate, not to mention it to her in any manner 
 whatever. If you can't see why, that 's no matter. 
 If you should speak to her of it, I should have to 
 punch your head, and as I could n't very well 
 punch my host's head, I would take the boat in 
 stead. I 'm not fooling." 
 
 " Oh, I know you 're not fooling when you leave 
 out all your r's, my flower of Southern chivalry," 
 returned Andreas, flinging an arm around his
 
 82 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 friend's shoulders. " All right ; mum 's the word, 
 until you are able to punch my head, anyway. 
 First catch your hare, you know ; and for the pres 
 ent the hare is a little swifter than the tortoise." 
 
 " No," returned the lieutenant stiffly. " Your 
 promise for all time, or I leave on the morning 
 boat." 
 
 " Take your playthings and all ? " Russell 
 patted the crutches. His friend stopped, and 
 faced him with a steady look of the heart-stirring 
 brown eyes. " Oh, Roger, you old idiot ! " he went 
 on, " of course I '11 promise. What 's the matter 
 with you? Swing along lively now. There 's my 
 mother at the window." 
 
 So it happened that Nathalie gave Mr. Andreas 
 great credit for delicacy at their first subsequent 
 meeting. Beyond certain twitchings of his deep- 
 cornered mouth when he referred to his friend's 
 mishap, he did not err even against the spirit of 
 his promise. 
 
 One morning some time afterward, Russell came 
 to the open door of the Dexter cottage. No one 
 was in the living-room. 
 
 " Oh, Miss Pris," he called, his voice penetrating 
 to the furthermost niche of the little house. 
 
 " Hello, Mr. Andreas. Kitchen." 
 
 Following the sententious suggestion of the muf 
 fled tones, he presented himself at the door of the 
 culinary department, to find Miss Toothaker deep 
 in the mysteries of making cake.
 
 AN IMPROMPTU PICNIC. 83 
 
 " I have called " - 
 
 " I heard you." 
 
 "Miss Pris," with grave reproach, "are you 
 being funny ? " 
 
 " Funny ! Well, I guess if you make me lose 
 count o' these cups o' flour, you '11 think I ain't 
 very funny. Was that two or three, did you 
 notice?" 
 
 " That was two, yes, I 'in positive ; " and Mr. 
 Andreas picked up a particularly plump raisin. 
 
 " Here ! don't you eat one o' the stoned ones, or 
 I '11 set you down here and make you do another 
 cupful." 
 
 " Plum cake is good for picnics," observed the 
 visitor musingly. 
 
 " Yes, that must have been three cups o' flour," 
 said Miss Toothaker. " I can tell by the looks. 
 Now what do you want ? Speak quick, for I don't 
 like to talk when I 'm beatin' eggs." 
 
 " Give me those eggs, woman. If I could n't 
 beat eggs with one hand and talk with the other, 
 I 'd go out of the insurance business." 
 
 Miss Toothaker tied an apron around his neck 
 on the instant. 
 
 " Go right at it," she retorted ; and the famous 
 maker of salad dressing accepted the plate and its 
 slippery burden with conscious power. 
 
 " What I was saying when you interrupted me 
 so rudely," he said, as he began to ply his fork, 
 " was that I called to know why Miss Dexter was
 
 84 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 neglecting her music. The house was silent as the 
 grave as I approached." 
 
 " Why, I don't know, I 'm sure. She must have 
 just stepped upstairs." 
 
 "What rent do you charge Gerard for that 
 boulder out yonder ? " Andreas jerked his head 
 toward the side of the house. 
 
 " He does seem to take comfort out of it, don't 
 he ? Sometimes I creep out just to see if he 's there, 
 and he usually is. I believe he 'd lay there the 
 whole day, if Nathalie 'd play that long. I often 
 think how surprised she 'd be to know how much 
 o' the time she has an audience." 
 
 " Think she does n't know it, eh ? " 
 
 " I know she don't. Mr. Gerard asked me not 
 to mention it. He thought she might feel freer, 
 you know." 
 
 " Roger is a very considerate fellow, ever no 
 ticed it?" Russell's eyes laughed at Miss Tooth- 
 aker above the checked apron. 
 
 " Well, I guess he is," she returned seriously. 
 " He 's the most perfect gentleman / ever saw." 
 
 " Miss Pris, Miss Pris ! And I sitting here beat 
 ing eggs for you so pleasantly with a bib on ! " 
 
 " You do it first-rate, too." 
 
 " I wonder if you can guess what this cake is 
 for ? " remarked Mr. Andreas ingratiatingly. 
 
 " It 's for tea. Want to come ? " 
 
 " Oh, I am coming. This cake is for a picnic 
 tea over at Gull Island this afternoon at five. Such
 
 AN IMPROMPTU PICNIC. 85 
 
 a select picnic, too. Nobody but you and Miss 
 Dexter, Roger and myself." 
 
 " Russell Andreas, I would n't go in your sail 
 boat if you begged me on your bended knees, and 
 you know it." 
 
 " Yes, that 's why I 've borrowed the Bensons' 
 little vapor launch." 
 
 " No, I 'm afraid o' big water anyway." 
 
 " Miss Pris, pause. This is the first day Roger 
 has walked with a cane. It must be celebrated. 
 Miss Dexter must be chaperoned. There is no 
 way out of it. You and I must go to take care of 
 the young people, and with the aid of my mother's 
 tea-basket we '11 do it. That launch goes along 
 like a settled old steamer. You '11 like it." 
 
 It was one of the occasions when Miss Tooth- 
 aker's ever-ready conscience took a hand in the 
 argument. For a trifling cowardice she ought 
 not to cheat Nathalie out of a good time. So she 
 gave herself up to the dangers of the deep in the 
 pretty boat with its flying flags. The wind was 
 steady, and the waves blue as the sky. 
 
 " You see," said Andreas, as at last they steamed 
 away from the landing, " with only four of us, if 
 Roger wants to keep up the bluff of interesting 
 invalid, he can lie down on these cushions and rest 
 his game knee." 
 
 " Yes, indeed ! Lie down, Mr. Gerard," said 
 Nathalie joyously. " Mr. Andreas is going to let 
 me steer ; are n't you, Mr. Andreas ? "
 
 86 MfSS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 " Nathalie Dexter, sit still. Don't you think o' 
 steerin' this boat," said Miss Toothaker solemnly. 
 She was balanced on the very edge of the seat, pre 
 paring to meet her Maker. 
 
 "But I have the chart here, see? " explained 
 Nathalie. Her ruddy brown hair was tied up in a 
 white silk handkerchief, away from the ruthless 
 wind, but a short burnished lock escaped here and 
 there. " There is n't a bit of danger. Mr. An 
 dreas is obliged to stay by the engine, and," turn 
 ing wheedlingly to the lieutenant, who was lying 
 stretched out under the awning, the picture of lux 
 urious contentment, " Mr. Gerard does n't feel any 
 too well, do you ? " 
 
 "Jes' po'ly, thank Gawd," responded Roger, 
 smiling. 
 
 Miss Toothaker cast a glance at Russell as the 
 arbiter of her destiny. Nathalie laid a covetous 
 hand on the smooth little wheel, and spread her 
 chart out before her. 
 
 The boat steamed on merrily, the water splash 
 ing to right and left, and the vitalizing sunshine 
 lent such a gay security to the scene that even 
 Miss Priscilla relaxed as time went on. 
 
 " If you had only brought the piano, Miss Dex 
 ter," said Roger lazily. 
 
 " Why did n't you remind me ? " returned the 
 girl. 
 
 " Well, to tell the truth, I should think you' d 
 both be sick of it," remarked Miss Toothake*
 
 AN IMPROMPTU PICNIC. 87 
 
 "Why? Are you, poor Miss Priscilla?" asked 
 Nathalie, without turning. 
 
 " Oh, I ain't obliged to listen to it." 
 
 " I 'm sure Mr. Gerard has n't bored himself 
 by coming very often." 
 
 The lieutenant lifted his heavy lashes, and ex 
 changed a smile with Miss Priscilla. 
 
 " What are you doing with the rudder, Miss 
 Nathalie ? " called Andreas. " Our wake looks 
 like a snake in pain." 
 
 " Oh, do, pray, Nathalie " besought Miss 
 Toothaker, becoming grave with great suddenness. 
 
 " I 'm avoiding ledges on the chart," explained 
 Miss Dexter with dignity. " Such ingratitude ! " 
 
 Roger left his couch, and approaching, leaned 
 over the chart beside her, humming a Pastorale she 
 had taught him. 
 
 " This chart is rather good fun," he remarked, 
 after a minute. 
 
 "Take hold there, Roger," called Andreas. 
 " We '11 be chasing our tail in a minute." 
 
 Nathalie sent him a withering glance, but she re 
 linquished the wheel, and Miss Toothaker breathed 
 a sigh of partial relief. 
 
 Nathalie took her seat with dignity. " I don't 
 suppose it is at all good for Mr. Gerard to stand up 
 there and steer. He might be jolted and strain 
 his knee," she said, addressing space. 
 
 " Oh, Roger is almost ready for anything now," 
 remarked Andreas cheerfully. "He will be dan-
 
 88 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 cing next. By the way, Miss Dexter, when you see 
 Gerard dance, you will be glad you " 
 
 The lieutenant cast a swift glance over his 
 shoulder. 
 
 " Ahem ! " continued Russell with a sudden 
 cough, " glad that you know him. Yes, Roger, 
 that 's Gull Island to the right there. Nice little 
 cove it has, and a nice cup of tea Miss Toothaker 
 will make us. Many a one she has made me. Ah, 
 Miss Pris$ are you going to take me under your 
 wing again next winter ? " 
 
 " I doubt it." Miss Toothaker spoke curtly, not 
 from any ill temper, but because she was afraid 
 if she allowed her attention to wander from her 
 surroundings, the boat might go down. 
 
 " What ! You would allow me to run the risk 
 of mumps and chicken-pox all alone in the big- 
 city? What do you mean? Explain." 
 
 " When we get on land, I will." 
 
 And she did. After they were seated in a clump 
 of evergreens, fragrant with many a fir balsam, the 
 sliced cake before them, and cups of hot tea in 
 hand, Miss Priscilla spoke : 
 
 " I 'm gettin' superstitious about receivin' let 
 ters," she announced impressively. " I almost 
 never in my life got a letter with nothin' in it, as 
 most folks do." 
 
 " It 's a shame, Miss Pris," said Andreas. " I '11 
 write to you as soon as I leave the Pulpit." 
 
 " When I get a letter it always means : ' Here,
 
 AN IMPROMPTU PICNIC. 89 
 
 come now ; change all your plans and do somethin' 
 you never expected to.' " 
 
 " Oh, Miss Toothaker," protested Nathalie plain 
 tively, " you are so personal ! " 
 
 " Now I 've heard from Mr. Barclay to-day. It 's 
 the time o' year I always do hear from him. You 
 noticed, Nathalie, when you handed me that letter 
 this mornin' I was n't surprised." 
 
 " No ; you remarked with the utmost noncha 
 lance that it was from Mr. Barclay, and have left 
 me to burn with curiosity ever since as to who Mr. 
 Barclay may be, and what he is saying to you." 
 
 " H'm. Mr. Andreas knows who he is : " and 
 Miss Priscilla took a long drink of tea. 
 
 " He has a very agreeable wife, Miss Dexter," 
 announced Andreas gravely. 
 
 " Yes, with one foot in the grave," added Pris 
 cilla, emerging from her teacup. 
 
 " Well, don't exult openly," said Andreas, in a 
 gentle aside. " It isn't good form." 
 
 " It 's his house I 've kept for two seasons in 
 Washington ; and I expected he would go on 
 leasin' it and I should go on keepin' it indefinitely. 
 We 've given each other pretty good satisfaction, 
 and I was all ready to say ' Yes ' before I read his 
 letter this mornin'. As long as the subject has 
 come up, I '11 tell you what he said ; for any 
 way, I may get drowned goin' back to the Pul 
 pit, and then I should want one o' you to answer 
 him."
 
 90 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 " Never ! " said Andreas dramatically. " I 'm 
 not going on living without you, Miss Pris. We 
 will go down to the sharks together ! " 
 
 " Do hush up ! " ejaculated Miss Toothaker. 
 
 " It is absolutely safe," said Gerard, his eyes 
 comforting her more than his quiet words. " The 
 proprietors of that sort of launch, I understand, 
 offer a thousand dollars to any one who will blow 
 it up." 
 
 " Generous offer," put in Andreas. " So tempt 
 ing to the winner." 
 
 " Land ! Will it blow up ? " exclaimed Miss 
 Priscilla. " I never thought of its doin' anything 
 but tip over." 
 
 " There ! You see, Roger, how unwise it is for 
 you to put in your oar." 
 
 " No, Miss Toothaker," laughed Nathalie. " It 
 can't do anything on a day like this but creep-a- 
 mouse-y-creep-a-mouse-y right home as soon as 
 we 're ready ; but do tell us what Mr. Barclay 
 wants you to do." 
 
 Miss Priscilla turned to Andreas. " Do you 
 remember fhat Southern girl that came up to 
 Washington at Easter, Miss Archer ? " 
 
 "Of course I do. But look out, Miss Pris. 
 You are on dangerous ground. Miss Archer is a 
 very particular friend of Gerard's, and he 's a reg 
 ular fire-eater ; run you through as soon as look 
 at you." 
 
 Miss Dexter regarded the young officer with
 
 AN IMPROMPTU PICNIC. 91 
 
 interest. He was leaning on his elbow, making 
 dabs with his teaspoon at the slice of lemon in 
 his cup. 
 
 " It is owing to her that I am in this clover 
 now," he said. " It was Miss Archer who recalled 
 me to Rusty's mind with sufficient vividness to 
 gain me this invitation." 
 
 " I want to know ! Well, 't ain't likely I should 
 be goin' to say anything against her. She 's a real 
 nice girl. It seems her mother has been writiii' 
 to Mr. Barclay " 
 
 " Her stepmother," suggested Gerard. 
 
 " Is it ? Her stepmother, then. She wants 
 Mr. Barclay to take their house for the winter in 
 stead of the Washington one ; and Mr. Barclay 
 thinks the climate might be better for his wife, 
 and it might be just as good a business scheme. 
 So there 't is ; and he wants me." 
 
 Roger Gerard was listening with fixed attention. 
 
 "For a boarding-house?" he asked. "The 
 Archer place ? " 
 
 "Why, yes. I s'pose so." 
 
 He nodded. " It was bound to come to that," 
 he murmured. " Poor Betty I " 
 
 " Well, now, ain't it queer that they are your 
 friends ! I see you don't like the idea. Any 
 reason that / ought not to like it ? It would be 
 real friendly in you, Mr. Gerard, to tell me all you 
 can. I ain't a bit enterprisin'. I don't like new 
 things, or new places, or new people ; and my first
 
 92 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 impulse is to say ' No.' Perhaps you '11 bear me 
 out in it. He says it 's Old Point Comfort, or it 's 
 practically that. It 's close by, and his wife would 
 have the benefit o' the sea air." 
 
 "Yes." Gerard bowed gravely. "The house 
 is on a creek, salt water. Miss Archer's grand 
 father built it long before the war. I have spent 
 much of my life there, for her father was my 
 guardian. Of course, I 'm fond of the place ; but 
 it was bound to come. The present Mrs. Archer 
 is not a woman of much sentiment, and they are 
 not too well off." 
 
 Something in the lieutenant's manner and tone 
 as he referred to the present Mrs. Archer roused 
 Nathalie's suspicions. 
 
 " Can you describe Mrs. Archer ? " she asked. 
 " Perhaps I know her." 
 
 " Oh, I don't know that I can describe her. 
 She is rather hurried and nervous in her manner, 
 not domestic at all in her tastes " 
 
 Miss Dexter did not care for this. " Does she 
 wear her hair straight back ? " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " And wink her eyes fast and squint them up ? " 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 " And does she come from Philadelphia ? " 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 " It 's the same ! '' ejaculated Nathalie trium 
 phantly. " Well, what a strange world this is ! 
 Three of us know the muffin man ! She was my
 
 AN IMPROMPTU PICNIC. 93 
 
 chaperon coming across this spring. Miss Tooth- 
 aker, do they want you to keep house for her ? " 
 
 "Not exactly; why?" 
 
 " Oh, I won't say anything ; only I fancy after 
 you 've been there a month, a vapor launch 
 would n't have any horrors for you. I 'm not sure 
 you won't put to sea in a tub." 
 
 "Forewarned is forearmed," returned Miss Pris- 
 cilla. " What a good thing the subject came up ! 
 No, ma'am ! This Mrs. Archer, whatever she is, 
 or whoever she is, won't have anything to do with 
 me, or I with her. I make my arrangements with 
 the Barclays, and I mind my business, and give 
 everybody else the privilege o' mindin' theirs."
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 EDGEWATER. 
 
 BY the time Lieutenant Gerard's leave expired, 
 he was a credit to the invigorating properties of 
 Pulpit Point. 
 
 Nathalie congratulated him on his altered ap 
 pearance as they stood on her piazza at the close of 
 his farewell call. 
 
 " I go away, Miss Dexter, carrying an abiding 
 sense of obligation to you,'' he said in his earnest, 
 slow, Southern speech. 
 
 "Can't you forgive and forget?" she returned. 
 " A sense of obligation is so unpleasant." 
 
 " Do you think so ? " 
 
 " Yes, I know so," she answered, an irresistible 
 impulse driving her to meet his gentle courtesy 
 with brusque frankness. " I have never apologized 
 to you for startling you and making you slip that 
 dreadful day. I do now." 
 
 He gazed at her in astonishment. " Were you 
 to blame for my clumsiness, and did n't you make 
 the amende honorable on the instant ? " 
 
 " Did that make it right ? " she insisted, her 
 cheeks tingling under his reposeful gaze. " You 
 have suffered pain, been set back in your convales-
 
 EDGE WATER. 95 
 
 cence, gone about on crutches, all on account of 
 me. You might write an essay on ' Woman in the 
 Pulpit.' " She finished with an embarrassed laugh. 
 
 " But, Miss Dexter, you forget that had I not 
 been a cripple, I should have been led off into all 
 sorts of expeditions away from your piano." 
 
 " You have not asked me to play a half-dozen 
 times. I did think you were going to care for it." 
 She allowed her disappointment to be apparent. 
 " I counted on it." 
 
 His eyes shone with quiet amusement. " Do you 
 see that boulder over there?" He pointed to it. 
 " On the further side of that rock the grass is 
 almost giving up the ghost. Miss Toothaker may 
 have to sow some more clover." 
 
 He noted the surprise and pleasure that slowly 
 altered the girl's expression. 
 
 " It would convict me of being the idlest fellow 
 in the universe to own how many hours you have 
 enchanted for me. One does not hear music at its 
 best except undisturbed, in such surroundings as 
 this. That is what I meant by carrying away the 
 sense of obligation. The pleasantest day-dreams 
 of my life have been enjoyed over there by that 
 rock. I will go back now and drill my men, and 
 march daily to the music of the band ; but the past 
 will go with me. I shall recall a melody and taste 
 this crisp air, see the breakers fling themselves 
 against the Pulpit and watch the white sails pass. 
 Nor," he lowered his voice, " shall I forget that it
 
 96 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 is owing to you that I can march. Don't belittle 
 what you did for me." 
 
 " You don't mind it, then ? " she asked, almost 
 imploringly, and her hand was in his. 
 
 "Take care of these clever hands," he said, 
 smiling. " Who knows but I may come under 
 their magic again some day?" 
 
 When he was gone, Nathalie went slowly into 
 the house and sat down at the piano ; but she 
 did not touch the keys. When Miss Toothaker 
 returned later from some errand, she found her so. 
 
 The girl started up from her reverie. " Mr. 
 Gerard has been here to say good-by. He was 
 sorry to miss you." 
 
 " Pshaw ! Well, I '11 see him off at the boat." 
 
 " He said he should see you in a short time, 
 anyway, at the Archers'." 
 
 " Yes, indeed. That surely is one advantage 
 that '11 come with my Virginia experiment : I shall 
 see Mr. Gerard occasionally." 
 
 " I think he is probably engaged to that Miss 
 Archer, by the way Mr. Andreas spoke." Miss 
 Dexter had already extracted from her housekeeper 
 all the particulars she could give of the Southern 
 girl. 
 
 " I wonder, now, if he is ? " said Miss Priscilla, 
 at once pleased with the idea. 
 
 "Of course he is," thought Nathalie, sinking- 
 back into her reverie, " and I have been orchestra 
 for the sentimental and dramatic scenes of his day-
 
 EDGEWATER. 97 
 
 dreams." She tried to think back. What had she 
 played most ? What had she played best ? How 
 strange that he had been listening all the time. 
 Well, he was going now, and forever, so far as she 
 was concerned. She should never, in all proba 
 bility, spend another summer at the Pulpit ; though, 
 for that matter, neither was it very likely that he 
 would. He was gone, and it mattered nothing. 
 He was engaged to a Southern girl who lisped, 
 how could he admire a girl who lisped ! and she, 
 Nathalie, had her object in life, her career just the 
 same, whoever came or went. The Reverend Lewis 
 Andreas had been right. Nothing was so impor 
 tant, nothing such a protection to a girl, as to have 
 a career. 
 
 So she went on with her work, and when, linger- 
 ingly and reluctantly, she and Miss Toothaker at 
 last closed the cottage and bade farewell to the 
 Pulpit, she went back to Boston, and there began 
 her study with the famous teacher. 
 
 Her mother remained away until the last of 
 March, and Nathalie, boarding with some friends 
 who were sufficiently in sympathy with her to en 
 dure her practicing, threw an amount of energy 
 into her work which, by the time of her mother's 
 home-coming, made her gowns rather loose and her 
 eyes hollow. 
 
 " It is time I came," said Mrs. Dexter to herself, 
 at the moment when Nathalie at last closed the 
 door upon all other welcoming friends, and they
 
 98 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 sat in her room, blessedly alone, feasting upon one 
 another with their eyes. 
 
 Mrs. Dexter's were blue, and her hair white. 
 The lines about her mouth showed that her life had 
 not been all calm ; yet the serenity of her smile 
 was a charm that one waited for, and even with her 
 white hair she looked young, young enough to be 
 the sympathetic companion of her daughter, and 
 this she was. 
 
 " You write good letters, Nathalie, and yet there 
 are some things for me to learn. You have been 
 working harder than I knew. Harder than last 
 winter?" 
 
 " No, but it is different over there, where one 
 only works and recreates. Here there are people 
 one knows, kind, dreadful people, who invite one; 
 and being pulled different ways is wearing ; but I 
 am well, perfectly well." 
 
 "Your summer was a success?" 
 
 "Oh, entirely so." 
 
 " And good Miss Toothaker, I suppose, is in 
 Washington ? I must write to her." 
 
 "No, she keeps a boarding-house in Virginia this 
 winter. Did n't I tell you ? She wrote me once 
 soon after she arrived there, but that is all I 've 
 heard. All I deserve, too, for I don't write to her. 
 There is an odd coincidence connected with her 
 new home." 
 
 Nathalie had unselfishly concealed from her mo 
 ther the details of her homeward trip a year ago,
 
 EDGE WATER. 99 
 
 and now she told her the story, laughing gayly 
 over circumstances which had seemed so dire dur 
 ing their occurrence. " Miss Toothaker wrote me 
 that Mrs. Archer was away visiting in Philadelphia 
 when she arrived, so I Ve never heard how she gets 
 on with her, if she is there," she finished. 
 
 " My dear, brave daughter ! " said Mrs. Dexter, 
 holding the girl's hand and regarding her affection 
 ately. " I have hungered for you, Nathalie. What 
 a reward this is, for us to be together again." 
 After a minute she added unexpectedly : " Instead 
 of my corresponding with Miss Toothaker, let us 
 go to see her." 
 
 " Oh, how can I?" returned Nathalie, with quick 
 protest. 
 
 " Try to manage it by the second week in April. 
 Don't you think you could ? " 
 
 " Yes, I could," answered the girl slowly. " You 
 want me to stop studying?" Mrs. Dexter nodded, 
 with a brightening of the eyes and a smiling tight 
 ening of the lips. 
 
 " Oh, mother ! It would mean all summer." 
 
 " I know it would ; and I think that would be 
 best." 
 
 " What makes you think so? " 
 
 " I see that you are tired." 
 
 " We have never been to Virginia," said Na 
 thalie thoughtfully, and she thought of the girl who 
 lisped. " I have a queer feeling about going," she 
 added quickly. " I would rather not go."
 
 100 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 " You are tired enough for all your feelings to 
 be queer. German, harmony, Mr. Brandon, and 
 some society ! It has told upon you." 
 
 " Why should we go to that place ? " asked 
 Nathalie. 
 
 " Because I want to see Miss Toothaker and 
 thank her. Where is she ? " 
 
 " It is near Old Point Comfort." 
 
 " And you are reluctant about going ! " Mrs. 
 Dexter laughed. " My dear, you are in a worse 
 way than I thought. A girl who makes difficulties 
 about going to Old Point Comfort is in need of 
 heroic measures." 
 
 " The house is called Edgewater, Miss Tootha 
 ker says," remarked Nathalie. " It is on a creek." 
 She remembered the clump of firs on Gull Island, 
 where she had first heard about it. She recalled 
 how Mr. Andreas rallied his friend. She saw 
 Roger Gerard and his interest in the lemon in his 
 cup. 
 
 " I think we must see it," said Mrs. Dexter. 
 
 She wrote Miss Toothaker to make arrangements 
 for a room, and received a reply which came as 
 near to enthusiasm in its expression of satisfaction 
 at the prospect of seeing them as Miss Priscilla 
 could come. This she read to Nathalie, in the 
 expectation of inspiring her with anticipation ; but 
 the girl received it with quiet assent. 
 
 " If you were not thin, Nathalie, I would change 
 my mind," remarked Mrs. Dexter. " I would leave
 
 EDGE WATER. 101 
 
 you here and take some other girl, who wanted to 
 go." 
 
 " Oh you are good to me, mother ! I would 
 like Mr. Brandon to go with us, that is all." 
 
 " But he does n't wish you to go on with your 
 lessons. He says it will be gain to you to rest. 
 I should suppose that would make your mind 
 so easy that you would be charmed at the pros 
 pect." 
 
 " I ought to be," answered Nathalie slowly, and 
 with such speculative eyes that her mother laughed 
 infectiously. 
 
 " You are dazed with study," she said. " We 
 will leave cobblestones, and east winds, and shut-up 
 rooms, and the din of traffic, and live out of doors 
 awhile. It will make a new girl of you." 
 
 It was in the last twilight of an April evening 
 that they reached the little Virginia station near 
 which were the grounds of Edgewater. As soon 
 as they alighted from the train, they perceived 
 Miss Toothaker speeding across a green field in 
 the direction of the depot, followed by a colored 
 boy. 
 
 " I expected to be right on hand to the minute," 
 she cried, when she had hurried within earshot. 
 " But, land ! you can't calc'late a thing down here 
 about time. You can't get your help to have one 
 idea of it. There ain't a day passes that I don't 
 wish I had a whippin'-post in the yard." 
 
 "Worse than Cap'n Levi?" asked Nathalie;
 
 102 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 but the name was cut short by the hard, pecking 
 kiss that Miss Priscilla bestowed on her. 
 
 " Junius, take these bags to the house, and then 
 get the trunks over. Mrs. Dexter, how've you 
 been ? You look well. Welcome to Old Vir- 
 ginny. What's the matter with you, Nathalie? 
 You look like the heroine of an old-fashioned 
 novel. Where 's those cheeks you had at Pulpit 
 Point?" 
 
 " We hope they 're down here," said Mrs. Dex 
 ter. " We thought it worth while to look, any 
 way. This girl has worked too hard, you see ; that 
 is all." 
 
 " And how have you liked Edge water ? " asked 
 Nathalie. 
 
 Miss Toothaker's lips twitched. " Very well," 
 she replied non-committally. " I fetched my same 
 colored boy with me I had in Washington, and he 
 knows my ways, and the Barclays are well pleased 
 from a business standpoint. It's all right, and 
 it 's a pretty place. Tea 's ready ; we have it late 
 here. I must go right in. Junius will show you 
 your room, and you come soon as you can." 
 
 It was too dusk, being a cloudy evening, to get 
 more than a general idea of spacious grounds 
 before they hurried into the square brick house. 
 Emerging a few minutes later from their room, 
 they met Junius, who with an airy bow conducted 
 them through a latticed walk and into the well- 
 lighted dining-room beyond.
 
 EDGEWATER. 103 
 
 Here was a long, well-filled table, and as they 
 took the two vacant places, Miss Toothaker named 
 them to their immediate neighbors. 
 
 A lady across the table put up her lorgnette and 
 surveyed Nathalie. 
 
 " I cannot be mistaken," she said, and her voice 
 sent thrills of unpleasant association over the girl. 
 " Surely it is Miss Dexter. Why, Miss Dexter, 
 this is a most unexpected pleasure." 
 
 " Good-evening, Mrs. Archer," responded Na 
 thalie composedly. " My mother, Mrs. Archer." 
 
 " Happy to meet you, Mrs. Dexter. Your 
 daughter and I had a very pleasant trip together a 
 year ago. Oh, Miss Dexter, have you ever seen 
 any more of that delightful Father Andreas ? " 
 
 " I never have." 
 
 " By a strange coincidence, I found when I 
 reached home that my daughter had met him. 
 Betty ? Where is Betty ? Oh, yes ! I remem 
 ber; she is taking tea at Hampton to-night. 
 Was n't it strange that she should have met him ? 
 We have never seen him again, but his brother 
 has been here once. My dear, if you could see his 
 brother, you would lose your heart. You really 
 would. Never have I seen a young man who car 
 ries in his person the sign and seal of fine antece 
 dents more markedly than Russell Andreas. You 
 know the strange part of it was that my daughter 
 met him, too, at a time when he was residing with 
 our good Miss Toothaker at the capital ; so when
 
 104 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 business brought him this way he naturally looked 
 in upon us. I really hope you will meet him 
 some time." 
 
 Good Miss Toothaker caught Nathalie's eye with 
 an expression which made her smile. 
 
 The lowered tone in which Mrs. Archer deliv 
 ered her address across the table was distinctly 
 patronizing. 
 
 " I have met him," returned the girl. 
 
 Mrs. Archer lifted her lorgnette in surprise. 
 
 " Miss Toothaker is an old friend of ours," said 
 Mrs. Dexter gently. "She took care of my 
 daughter for me through the summer." 
 
 "Then you knew they were coming," remarked 
 Mrs. Archer to Priscilla in a changed voice. 
 "You did not speak of it. However, of course 
 you did not know that Miss Dexter and I were 
 acquainted." 
 
 After this Mrs. Archer applied herself to her 
 crab salad, her thoughts running something after 
 this fashion : " I knew she was nobody " (sAe be 
 ing Nathalie). " Friends of Miss Toothaker ! 
 My instinct never deceives me. Mr. Andreas 
 claims Miss Toothaker for a friend also ; but a 
 lonely young man, so, is different. There are 
 friendships de convenances, and I 've no doubt she 
 was very useful to him when he boarded with her. 
 Fortunate that Betty was out to-night. I shall 
 have a talk with her." - *
 
 ED GE WATER. 105 
 
 " Hope springs eternal in the human breast," 
 and Mrs. Archer never despaired of making an 
 effect upon her stepdaughter by the words of wis 
 dom she was always willing to bestow upon her. 
 Probably Betty's attitude contributed to this mis 
 placed confidence. She had a quiet, receptive 
 manner, as gentle and non-resistant as that of an 
 amiable little child ; and she wore it that evening 
 in her mother's bedroom, when called there upon 
 her return from the Institute. 
 
 " Some new people have come to-night," began 
 Mrs. Archer. " Betty," fretfully, " I wreh you 
 would turn the bows on that hat, if you can't do 
 any more ; they really are too faded." 
 
 The girl took off her headgear and examined it 
 attentively. 
 
 " They are not the sort I care to have you mix 
 with." 
 
 " I don't care to mix with faded beaux, ma- 
 self." 
 
 " Be serious ! I am. These people are friends 
 of Miss Toothaker. That is enough. Of course, 
 Miss Toothaker is a very good person. The 
 daughter -will probably try to claim an acquaint 
 ance with you. She is the girl I told you I chap 
 eroned across the water last spring, and who be 
 haved so boldly with Father Andreas." 
 
 A trace of eagerness came into Miss Archer's 
 passive manner. " What is the name ? "
 
 106 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 " Dexter. Nathalie Dexter." 
 
 " Roger's friend." 
 
 " Why, no ! He does n't know her." 
 
 " Yes ; she is the girl who played the piano at 
 Pulpit Point. Have n't you heard him talk about 
 it?" 
 
 " No, I have not." 
 
 " I have. He and Miss Toothaker often speak 
 about the good times they all had together last 
 summer. Mr. Andreas spoke of it, too, when he 
 was here." 
 
 " Well, last summer was last summer," returned 
 Mrs. Archer decidedly. " Young men go any 
 where and do anything that amuses them ; but 
 with a young lady it is different. They are not 
 the sort of people who would ever have come 
 under the roof of Edge water in its palmy days." 
 
 " Nor now, then, had it not been for you," re 
 turned Betty. 
 
 Despite the cool, dispassionate tone in which 
 the words were said, Mrs. Archer colored deeply. 
 " Then I hope you are sufficiently obliged to me," 
 she retorted. " We had come to where we could 
 not even scrape along any longer ; whereas now 
 you do not even need to paint unless you like. A 
 few years like this, and I could invite you to Phil 
 adelphia for a season. You would find out then 
 whether I could be a useful friend. In fact, any 
 time when you will put sentimentality aside, as /
 
 EDGEWATER. 107 
 
 can, and give your consent to sell the place, we can 
 live and travel as we like." 
 
 " You have said that before." 
 
 " And I shall say it again, very likely ! " Mrs. 
 Archer winked fast, after her habit when excited, 
 and kept on muttering to herself after Betty had 
 left her.
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 VACATION. 
 
 "EDGEWATER stands on a creek." Nathalie re 
 membered Mr. Gerard's description of the Virgin 
 ian homestead as she stood on the gallery in front 
 of her room the day after their arrival. 
 
 The " creek " was to her eyes a large salt-water 
 bay, flowing like a river this morning under the 
 soft wind, the high tide bringing its waves to the 
 very fence that edged the grounds. Across its 
 broad, rippled spaces came sweetly a bugle call 
 from the fort. 
 
 Fortress Monroe. There it lay in warm sun 
 shine, its distant verdant parapet guarding the 
 
 post. " Lieutenant Roger Gerard, Artillery, 
 
 U. S. A." Nathalie believed she had his card 
 somewhere yet. 
 
 Again came the mellowed notes of the bugle. 
 She wondered if it were calling him, wondered 
 with a blissful lack of interest. Such contentment, 
 such leisure were in this place of heavenly rest. 
 In her tired condition the girl could think of no 
 thing desirable to add to the present blessed mo 
 ment. 
 
 The wide, smooth lawns of Edgewater rested
 
 VACATION. 109 
 
 her eyes. At her left a dozen peach and pear 
 trees in full bloom feasted her soul with their ethe 
 real, snowy, rosy blossoms. Down the gentle 
 slope toward the water, spreading shade trees 
 upreared their massive trunks and stretched 
 symmetrical boughs, delicately clothed in spring 
 foliage. Rustic seats surrounded these. Tall 
 magnolias and sturdy rosebushes stood all about, 
 full of promise ; but Nathalie scarcely noticed 
 them. Her eyes rested affectionately on the vio 
 lets and buttercups striving for space in the grass. 
 She inhaled the breath of the old box hedge which 
 everywhere bordered the walks. She felt herself 
 as truly in paradise as did the butterflies rollicking 
 and frolicking on every hand, or the birds that 
 lighted near her and regarded her with trustful 
 eyes. 
 
 She forgot to regret Mr. Brandon and the circu 
 lating musical library. Those catbirds were bet 
 ter than the Symphony concerts. Even the bell 
 of the trolley car which raced across the bridge 
 dividing the creek from Hampton Roads was a 
 remote suggestion of the city's noise, which but 
 heightened her content in this utter contrast. 
 
 She had not known until now how tired she was ; 
 and a grateful acknowledgment of her mother's 
 wisdom stole over her. She appreciated being left 
 alone at the present moment, to drink in the novel 
 loveliness. This was indeed rest. It was new 
 life.
 
 110 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 At this point in her meditations she became con 
 scious that there was another person beside herself 
 on the gallery. Involuntarily she turned her eyes 
 to see who it was, pausing over there beside a 
 pillar. 
 
 Instinctively she felt at once that it was the girl 
 who lisped. Nathalie had been aware of her, flut 
 tering in some remote corner of her consciousness, 
 every moment since her arrival, but as yet she had 
 been a will-o'-the-wisp. This young person, with 
 the smooth brown hair and observant eyes, must 
 be she. 
 
 Now that the moment had come, Miss Dexter 
 shrank anew from meeting her. Ah, the girl was 
 approaching. Why was not Edgewater a desert 
 isle! 
 
 " Is n't_ this Miss Dexter ? " asked the clear, 
 pleasant Southern voice. 
 
 Nathalie had learned enough of this stranger 
 from Miss Toothaker at the Pulpit to be certain 
 that she was of a different order from her step 
 mother. Nevertheless, she now admitted her own 
 identity in a cool manner. 
 
 Betty's expression of indecision vanished, and 
 she smiled with pleasure as she took in the details 
 of her companion's face. 
 
 "You don't know who I am," she said, "but 
 I know who you are. We have several mutual 
 friends." 
 
 She was like the landscape, piquant, and sunny,
 
 VACATION. Ill 
 
 and winning. An added charm surrounded her 
 to Nathalie as the latter realized that this home 
 of beauty was the girl's natural environment, her 
 native element. What wonder that her face was 
 fair and her voice reposeful ! Instantly her suita 
 bility to the peculiar characteristics and tastes of 
 
 Lieutenant Gerard of the Artillery suggested 
 
 itself with force. 
 
 " Miss Toothaker and Mr. Gerard have spoken 
 to me of you," went on Miss Archer, " and we had 
 a call from Mr. Andreas during the winter, and 
 he talked of you, too. I 'm Betty Archer. Per 
 haps you 've heard ma name." 
 
 "Yes, I have, Miss Archer." Nathalie felt her 
 manner to be stiff compared to the other's genial 
 ity, and hated herself for it, especially because she 
 found she took a certain enjoyment in her own 
 coldness, and had no intention of thawing. " Your 
 home here is ideal." 
 
 " I 'm so glad the sun shines fo' you this morn 
 ing. It has been unpleasant fo' nearly a week; 
 but you see Nature was only preparing fo' yo' 
 reception getting her bouquets ready. You de 
 serve it, you know, fo' the grand time you made 
 Roger have at Pulpit Point. We feel just as 
 grateful Mrs. Archer and I as if you 'd done 
 it fo' us." 
 
 " I did nothing, absolutely nothing." Na 
 thalie raised her eyebrows. 
 
 " Oh, he does n't think so."
 
 112 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 Miss Dexter was silent for a time. 
 
 " Is he quite well again ? " she asked at last, 
 with chilling politeness. 
 
 " Entirely so, thank you." 
 
 "Not lame at all?" 
 
 " Lame ? " asked Betty, with courteous surprise. 
 " Why should he be lame ? " 
 
 Miss Dexter crimsoned with conflicting sensa 
 tions, in which impatience at her own stupidity 
 was dashed with a strange gratification that Mr. 
 Gerard had not told their adventure to this sweet 
 girl. Then, as quickly, she rebuffed the pleasant 
 emotion with a reminder that it was not strange he 
 had refrained from mentioning a circumstance of 
 which he was ashamed. 
 
 She turned her flushed face aside to smooth 
 back a breeze-blown lock. " Oh, he had a slight 
 sprain at Pulpit Point. It passed right off, proba 
 bly," she said carelessly. 
 
 " It must have. It would n't do to have Roger 
 lame," added Betty, with a little laugh. " I 
 should lose a lot of dancing." 
 
 " You go to the Hygeia, I presume," remarked 
 Nathalie perfunctorily. 
 
 " Yes, occasionally." 
 
 Betty pursued her valiant attempt to be com 
 panionable for some time longer, and ended by 
 asking Miss Dexter to accompany her that after 
 noon to parade, an invitation which Nathalie 
 refused with a decision faultlessly polite.
 
 VACATION. 113 
 
 As a consequence of this interview, when Roger 
 Gerard found Betty under her accustomed live-oak 
 fifteen minutes before parade, she reproached him. 
 
 He lifted his cap as he drew near. 
 
 " Did n't Miss Dexter arrive ? " he asked with 
 concern. 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 " You promised to bring her over." 
 
 "Yes, in ma innocence. I'd no idea what a 
 contract I 'd undertaken." 
 
 " Why that tone, Betty ? I was sure you would 
 like each other." 
 
 " We do to a degree. I like her hair, and 
 she likes ma home. She is good enough to say it 
 is ideal." 
 
 Gerard smiled. " And she prefers to stay in it, 
 does she ? " 
 
 " Apparently. Why did n't you tell me how 
 impossible she is ? " 
 
 " Impossible ? What an idea ! I found her not 
 only possible, but probable. Even actual." 
 
 " She 's that kind, then," mused Miss Archer 
 aloud. 
 
 " What do you mean ? " 
 
 " Some girls are that way," explained Betty. 
 " The masculine element acts on them like chamois 
 leather on silver." 
 
 " She is very unaffected," averred Gerard. 
 
 " T found her so," rejoined Miss Archer. 
 
 When Mrs. Dexter finally joined her daughter
 
 114 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 on that same morning, Nathalie had strayed out 
 into the pavilion built half a dozen rods from 
 the shore in the water, directly in front of the 
 house. 
 
 As the girl perceived her mother advancing 
 along the narrow pier, she waved her hand to her. 
 
 " I should like this day to be a week long," 
 declared Nathalie, as she rose to meet her. " I 
 am renewing my youth." 
 
 "Eeally?" Mrs. Dexter smiled. "I think, 
 too, that we are very much obliged to Miss Tooth- 
 aker." 
 
 They entered the pavilion, and Mrs. Dexter 
 refusing the hammock, Nathalie took possession of 
 it, while her mother seated herself by the railing. 
 
 " Obliged to Miss Toothaker ? " repeated the 
 girl. " I should say the thanks were due your 
 guardian angel. I suppose he is around just the 
 same as ever." 
 
 " I hope so, I 'm sure," returned Mrs. Dexter. 
 Nathalie had been used to say that her mother's 
 reliance on this unseen guide was as practical as 
 the confidence she gave her grocer and butcher. 
 
 " One thing is certain. We had no idea of the 
 loveliness we were coming to." Mrs. Dexter's 
 glance swept about her surroundings. " This is 
 not much like the waste of boards and sand about 
 the hotels across there at the Point. I have just 
 been talking with the daughter of the house." 
 
 " You mean the stepdaughter."
 
 VACATION. 115 
 
 " Is she ? She certainly does n't resemble Mrs. 
 Archer in any particular. I 'm afraid I may be 
 prejudiced against that lady a little. At all 
 events, the daughter is very attractive." 
 
 " Is n't she ? " 
 
 " Her talk is bewitching, and her face makes 
 you want to hug her. Don't you think so ? " 
 
 " She is charming," declared Nathalie, with all 
 the enthusiasm she could throw into her manner. 
 
 " It is good fortune for you to find such a girl 
 here. A congenial companion for you to go about 
 with"- 
 
 " Don't mention such a thing," interrupted 
 Nathalie quickly. " I have n't seen you for a 
 year. Don't fancy you are going to put me off 
 on any girl. I don't want to see anybody but 
 you ; not anybody at all." 
 
 The unnecessary warmth with which this decla 
 ration was made was another proof to Mrs. Dexter 
 of her child's fatigued condition. 
 
 " You set me up, my dear," she returned gently. 
 After a minute she went on : " Miss Archer has 
 just been telling me about a Mr. Gerard whom she 
 says you know well." 
 
 " Yes ? " Nathalie's hands were crossed under 
 neath her head, and her eyes lazily regarding the 
 masts of the shipping in Hampton Roads. 
 
 " He was at Pulpit Point, I understand. I 
 don't remember his name." 
 
 " Did n't I write of him ? It is n't remarkable.
 
 116 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 I didn't see very much of people. I was so 
 busy." 
 
 " That suited him, it seems. Miss Archer says 
 he was never weary of hearing you play." 
 
 " Well, I don't mean to tire people with it." 
 
 " I am just waiting for the right time for 
 another feast." 
 
 " Then you 've brought me to the wrong place. 
 I feel that I shan't want to do that kind of play 
 ing here." 
 
 " You thoroughly enjoyed Pulpit Point, did n't 
 you ? There was a Mr. Andreas you wrote me 
 about, the brother of your kind friend of the 
 steamer." 
 
 " Yes. Did n't you hear Mrs. Archer talking 
 about him last night ? He is one of the elect, in 
 her estimation. It was a blow to her to learn that 
 I knew him." 
 
 " Poor lady ! " 
 
 " Now, mother, don't begin using that tone 
 about Mrs. Archer ! Next thing you will be tell 
 ing me I 've got to love her." 
 
 " Don't worry, my dear. There are only two 
 things we must love." 
 
 " Well, so long as Mrs. Archer is n't one of 
 them " - 
 
 " You remember Goodness and Truth." 
 
 " Very well ; then my chaperon is out of it." 
 
 " On the contrary, they are at the soul of her, or 
 she would n't be alive. Perhaps there is a good
 
 VACATION. 117 
 
 deal of excavating to be done in her case ; or per 
 haps the rubbish can be burned away by love. 
 Aversion, repugnance, never accomplished any 
 thing worthy. Don't try those instruments." 
 
 A friend of Mrs. Dexter's had once said to 
 Nathalie : " My dear, your mother lives more 
 nearly transparent to heaven than any one I ever 
 knew." The words had remained in the girl's 
 mind, and she remembered them now as she met 
 her mother's tranquil, clear gaze. A provoking 
 recollection of her own recent interview with Betty 
 Archer flashed across her. She stirred in the 
 hammock. 
 
 " It is my vacation, and I wish you would let 
 me be as bad as I want to be," she returned plain 
 tively. 
 
 Mrs. Dexter laughed. " Here is Miss Tooth- 
 aker," she announced, as Miss Priscilla approached 
 on the narrow walk. 
 
 " I thought I recognized Nathalie's striped 
 waist," called the newcomer, " and I made up my 
 mind I 'd snatch a minute to ask you how you was 
 ' likin',' as Cap'n Levi used to say. Remember 
 that, Nathalie ? " 
 
 " Yes, I remember. What a different sea air 
 this is, Miss Priscilla ! as soft as velvet and cool 
 as satin." 
 
 " Yes." Miss Toothaker came into the pavilion 
 and dropped on the wooden seat. " This and Pul 
 pit Point are both sea air, and a banana and a
 
 118 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 cucumber are a good deal the same shape ; but 
 there 's just as much difference between the two 
 airs as there is between the fruit and the vege 
 table. 
 
 "Cap'n Levi would call this 'hahnsome wea 
 ther,' " remarked Nathalie. 
 
 " Ain't it pleasant ! " Miss Priscilla looked 
 about approvingly. " Miss Betty says she 's made 
 herself known to both of you ; says she asked you 
 to go to parade, Nathalie, but you did n't favor 
 it. Now, Mr. Gerard would be real glad to see 
 you again." 
 
 " Give me time ; give me time." Nathalie spoke 
 lazily. " I can't do everything at once. Just now 
 I feel that I should like to be doomed to remain 
 inside these grounds for a month." 
 
 " I guess you 're a tired girl ; that 's what I 
 guess. Mr. Andreas is comin' to stay with me 
 awhile. He 's got insurance business to do in 
 Hampton, and Newport News, and Norfolk, and 
 it '11 be real convenient for him. We '11 have a 
 Pulpit Point reunion, as it were, with your ma 
 and Miss Betty thrown in." 
 
 " What an attractive creature your Miss Betty 
 is," remarked Mrs. Dexter. 
 
 "Yes, I like that girl. 'T ain't every one as 
 young as she is that would know how to carry sail 
 as well with Mrs. Archer." Miss Toothaker low 
 ered her voice, as though wind and waves might 
 carry it inland. " That girl 's got pluck and tact
 
 VACATION. 119 
 
 with the best of 'em ; and then she 's got Mr. 
 Gerard close by." 
 
 Nathalie smiled. " Had Miss Toothaker been 
 your correspondent, mother, you would not have 
 remained ignorant of Mr. Gerard." 
 
 " You know we thought they might be engaged," 
 put in Priscilla. " Queer if they ain't, but I can't 
 be sure. Well" Miss Toothaker sighed and 
 arose. " There 's Junius comin' after me already. 
 Come in in a few minutes. It 's almost dinner 
 time."
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE "BAPTIZE." 
 
 " MR. GERARD wished to be remembered to you, 
 Miss Dexter," said Betty the following morning. 
 " He regrets that his duties will not permit him to 
 call to-day, but he is watching for the first oppor 
 tunity." 
 
 The Archers and Dexters were still lingering at 
 the breakfast-table after the other boarders had 
 dispersed. 
 
 "From what I understand," remarked Mrs. 
 Archer, " Miss Dexter is here for rest, and will 
 not care to have people calling upon her." 
 
 As Nathalie made no reply to this, Mrs. Dexter 
 spoke pleasantly : 
 
 " Oh, I am glad to say my daughter is not ill. 
 I am sure she will be pleased to see your nephew 
 again." 
 
 " Roger is not my nephew. It would be a little 
 difficult to say what he is to me," Mrs. Archer 
 laughed consciously, " except that he is very, 
 very dear. He is my husband's ward. Naturally 
 he and Betty have always stood almost together in 
 my affections." 
 
 Betty just glanced at the speaker with the inno-
 
 THE "BAPTIZE." 121 
 
 cent eyes which had learned to keep their owner's 
 secrets. 
 
 Her memory was unfolding a panorama of scenes 
 in which she and Roger were always conspirators, 
 engaged in escaping or foiling the unsympathetic 
 wife of her adored father. Mrs. Archer was not 
 the cruel stepmother of the fairy tales, but she was 
 indifferent to children, and had never sought to 
 gain the confidence of her husband's daughter. 
 Betty had never been asked to call her " Mother," 
 and had never done so ; but the sweet wholesome- 
 ness of the girl's temperament, and a strong and 
 saving sense of humor, had enabled her to preserve 
 an unruffled attitude toward Mrs. Archer, who 
 complacently assumed all credit for their friendly 
 relations. 
 
 That lady had heard of the interest which Na 
 thalie's music had inspired in Gerard, and could 
 not deny to herself the attractions of this Yankee 
 girl. Being extremely forehanded, and given to 
 preparing for war in time of peace, she succeeded 
 now in catching Nathalie's eyes with a full gaze. 
 
 " Neither Mr. Archer nor I was ever able to think 
 of Betty without immediately thinking of Roger, 
 nor to think of Roger without thinking of Betty." 
 
 "Naturally," returned Mrs. Dexter, with her 
 usual manner of kindly interest. " I suppose they 
 grew up together like brother and sister." 
 
 And Betty, who had felt surprise at hearing 
 Mrs. Archer's impressive declaration, smiled at her 
 plate.
 
 122 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 The next day was Sunday. Junius, who ap 
 proved of Nathalie's graceful and dignified car 
 riage, and the poise of her bronze-crowned head, 
 stepped up to her as she was leaving the breakfast- 
 room : 
 
 " Goin' to be a baptize in the creek this 
 mawnin', Miss Dexter, yas 'm," he said, his face 
 beaming from between the points of his amazing 
 shirt-collar, and his manner more airy than usual. 
 " I thought you might like to be thar. I thought 
 it might give you a little amusement. Up to 
 Hampton Bridge, yas 'in." 
 
 Nathalie thanked him, and soon afterward, while 
 she was writing a letter, seated in the peach-tree 
 bower, she heard him singing at his dish-washing. 
 
 Such stentorian and sustained tones as Junius 
 was capable of would be the envy and despair of 
 the average student of singing, groping for the 
 secret of breath-support! 
 
 "Naro, my God, to Thee, 
 Naro to Thee," 
 
 he bawled, until Miss Dexter began to wonder 
 laughingly what a chorus of such would sound like, 
 and realizing the present impossibility of letter- 
 writing, she determined to go to the " baptize." 
 
 Hastening into the house, she found her mother, 
 and proposed the trip. 
 
 " Let us get Miss Archer," responded Mrs. 
 Dexter at once.
 
 THE "BAPTIZE." 123 
 
 " Let us not get Miss Archer," returned Natha 
 lie gayly. " Let us get tired of each other first, 
 mother. I ain fairly jeal " 
 
 She had been going to declare herself jealous 
 of Betty, but for some reason she stopped herself. 
 
 "Oh, you may admit it," remarked Mrs. Dexter, 
 as she put on her bonnet. " You have seldom had 
 so good reason to be jealous of any one. She be 
 witches me. How many girls would behave as well 
 as she does ? Just think ! This is the first year of 
 having the privacy of her home invaded by any one 
 who chooses to pay the price. The child is like 
 a dear little unostentatious hostess all the time." 
 
 Nathalie's cheeks flushed. "I haven't seen 
 very much of her," she said. 
 
 They left Edgewater and took the electric car 
 for Hampton, the kindly colored people with whom 
 it was filled squeezing up to make room for them. 
 
 Arrived at the appointed place, they found' the 
 crowd already gathering. From all directions 
 streamed the concourse of men, women, and chil 
 dren. Some perched on the edge of the bridge, 
 but most of them stood patiently on the bank of 
 the creek, while a large gathering of various craft 
 assembled on the water near the scene of the pro 
 spective baptism. 
 
 The sun beamed down ardently, and it was tire 
 some to stand and wait. Not even the curious 
 variety in the congregation could prevent the min 
 utes from dragging.
 
 124 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 Nathalie found a vacant space on a log, which 
 she insisted that her mother should occupy, but the 
 color had left the girl's own face. 
 
 " Let me walk about a little. It will tire me 
 less," said her mother. " Keep this seat for me a 
 few minutes, please." 
 
 Mrs. Dexter made her way through the crowd 
 back to the road, and scanned the surroundings for 
 some point of vantage where she and Nathalie 
 might both find a comfortable spot to pass the time 
 of waiting, and yet be able to view the proceed 
 ings. It was a hopeless search. Every desirable 
 spot except the private grounds of the pretty homes 
 whose lawns ran back to the water's edge had been 
 preempted. She stood, her parasol on her shoul 
 der, looking about in a somewhat anxious way, 
 when suddenly a. voice accosted her. 
 
 " Can I help you, madam ? " She turned her 
 head and saw an officer in artillery uniform. He 
 held his cap in his hand as he spoke. 
 
 " I 'm afraid not," she answered, smiling. " My 
 daughter and I found it fatiguing to stand down 
 there on the bank. I was looking for a possible 
 seat, but there is n't any. I will go back." 
 
 " No, no, wait, please. I have friends in this 
 house," indicating the spacious brick residence on 
 their left. " They would like for me to make use 
 of their veranda, I know. If you will bring your 
 daughter, I will meet you at their gate and see that 
 you are comfortable."
 
 THE "BAPTIZE." 125 
 
 " But are you sure " 
 
 The officer met the doubt with the smile which 
 had won Miss Toothaker's unyielding affections. 
 
 " You need not hesitate, madam. I will speak 
 to my friends." 
 
 Mrs. Dexter hurried back to her daughter. 
 Later, Nathalie laughed over the subdued excite 
 ment of her mother's manner. 
 
 " Come, dear. Come quick ! " she said. " There 
 is a gentleman who is going to take care of us." 
 
 " What 's this ? " asked the girl, as she rose. 
 
 " The most fortunate thing," explained Mrs. 
 Dexter, as they forced their way through the crowd. 
 " He just happened to come along, and saw that I 
 was puzzled, and he knows the people in that house 
 over there, and we are going up on the piazza." 
 
 " Oh, no ! " returned Nathalie, protesting even to 
 the extent of stopping when they were nearly at 
 the gate. "Truly, you won't be uncomfortable 
 down where I was, and this is so queer " The 
 erect lieutenant emerged from the door of the 
 house. " Such an intrusion ! " went on the girl. 
 He ran down the steps. " I don't like it ! " 
 
 " Why ! " exclaimed the approaching officer ; 
 and Mrs. Dexter saw that the reassuring smile he 
 had given her was nothing to the radiance which 
 could illumine his face. 
 
 " Why ! " ejaculated Nathalie in the same breath, 
 all her pallor fled. And then they were clasping 
 hands, and his head was uncovered, and Mrs.
 
 126 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 Dexter's lips were parted as she wondered what all 
 this might mean. 
 
 For a moment Nathalie seemed tongue-tied. The 
 truth is, she had prepared so many phrases to say 
 to him when they should first meet, that now they 
 all escaped her in a body. 
 
 " Well, have you taken care of them ? " he 
 asked, looking down at the hand he held. 
 
 It slipped from his. 
 
 "Mother, let me introduce Mr. Gerard." 
 
 "Oh, this is Mr. Gerard," said Mrs. Dexter 
 graciously. 
 
 " My mother has heard the Archers speak of* you 
 so much," explained Nathalie hastily. " What a 
 coincidence this is ! " 
 
 " Is n't it ? I went over to Edgewater, thinking 
 you might like Jo go to church, and there Junius 
 informed me where you had gone. There is no 
 telling when or whether I might have found the 
 needle in the haymow, had my good angel not 
 prompted your mother to go on an investigating 
 expedition." 
 
 " Oh, that was n't your good angel," returned 
 Nathalie gayly. "That was mother's. She has 
 one which permits of no rival." 
 
 " Perhaps they 're friends. Don't you think it 
 quite likely, Mrs. Dexter ? Now if you will come 
 around this way. The nurse has put some chairs 
 out on the veranda for you, and I shall add a third, 
 if you will permit me."
 
 THE "BAPTIZE." 127 
 
 They were soon ensconced. How dramatic the 
 scene had grown to Nathalie's changed vision ! 
 The sea of dusky faces on the bank, the gently 
 rocking boats at anchor in the waves, now formed 
 a significant picture. 
 
 The minister finally appeared, and, staff in hand, 
 his gowned form waded out into the flood, sinking 
 deeper and deeper in the sparkling tide, until he 
 had found the requisite spot, where he planted the 
 staff. 
 
 Then began a procession of black-robed men and 
 boys, who advanced to their immersion while the 
 crowd on the shore raised a hymn of praise. 
 
 After this came the crowning touch of the pic 
 turesque ceremony. A larger procession of women, 
 their dusky faces the darker for the costuming of 
 white robes and turbans, filed to the bank. Two 
 of the dripping men conducted between them the 
 form of an emotional sister, whose immersion 
 seemed to the onlooker suffocatingly long. 
 
 Upon emerging from the flood, some of the ex 
 citable creatures wrung their hands, shouting, 
 " I 'm redeemed ! " Others broke into singing ; 
 others again swayed their bodies from right to left 
 with groans of rapture, during the whole of their 
 laborious transit to dry land. 
 
 The Dexters watched it all with the rapt inter 
 est of novelty. Mrs. Dexter held her breath each 
 time a turbaned head disappeared beneath the 
 flowing tide in the deliberate hands of the clergy-
 
 128 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 man, whose sonorous intonations sounded across 
 the water. 
 
 Gerard, looking on with wonted eyes, received 
 the comments of his companions with gentle assent 
 or demur ; but never once, Mrs. Dexter observed, 
 did he ridicule any feature of the scene. She liked 
 him for it. Indeed, it inspired her with a sort of 
 dismay to see how easy it was to like him for all 
 his obvious characteristics, those not only for 
 which he was not responsible, but such superficial, 
 acquired ones as she could already observe. 
 
 Her mother-heart took alarm, and she began in 
 an uncertain way to put two and two together, and 
 to send her thoughts, or rather her imagination, on 
 scouting expeditions into that past summer, which 
 had evidently thrown these two into familiar rela 
 tions. And she had insisted on coming to Edge- 
 water in spite of Nathalie's reluctance ! 
 
 "Would you like to do it, Mrs. Dexter?" 
 Gerard's eyes were interrogating her. 
 
 The crowds on the bank were dispersing. Her 
 far-away look drew a laugh from Nathalie. 
 
 "I don't think mother has caught her breath 
 comfortably yet, after all the sympathetic gasps she 
 has been giving." 
 
 " I beg your pardon ? " asked Mrs. Dexter. 
 
 " I have been telling Mr. Gerard that I want to 
 go to a colored church, and he says he will take us 
 where he knows one of the teachers in the Sunday- 
 school. Would n't you like to go ? "
 
 THE "BAPTIZE:' 129 
 
 " This woman used to be a plantation hand," 
 explained Gerard as they neared the church, " but 
 she is simply a genius as a teacher. She does occa 
 sional work at Edgewater, and Miss Archer is 
 interested in her. She took me to visit this class 
 of ' Mis' Jackson ' once lately, and I don't know of 
 anything more original to show you." 
 
 The regular service of the little church was very 
 brief that morning, owing to the " baptize," as the 
 sexton explained, and very soon the Sunday-school 
 assembled. 
 
 Mrs. Jackson recognized the lieutenant with an 
 expansive smile and a delighted bow, and cordially 
 welcomed the ladies, whom he introduced to her as 
 visitors to her class. 
 
 " I does have right smaht of a class mos' days, 
 Mist' Gerard knows," she declared, blinking be 
 hind her spectacles, " but I don't guess I will this 
 mawnin', 'long o' the baptize. Kind o' breaks 'em 
 up, ye know." 
 
 Nathalie thought it well worth while to have 
 come here, if it were only to meet Mrs. Jackson. 
 The teacher was a heavy-lipped African, as nearly 
 black as could be found. Her costume was a 
 scarlet flannel gown with skin-tight sleeves, over a 
 petticoat of mazarine blue, which was visible be 
 low it all around, and she wore a turban hat which 
 rivaled the red-bird's .wing. 
 
 In spite of Mrs. Jackson's fears, about a dozen 
 little pickaninnies appeared after the general exer 
 cises of the school to receive her instruction.
 
 130 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 She beamed upon them proudly. " This wuz 
 the banner class up till two months ago," she re 
 marked, turning to her guests, who were decorously 
 seated at her right, "but then we done lost de 
 banner, and it 's puffic'ly rediklus, but we hain't 
 ever ben able to git it back." 
 
 "What decides who shall have the banner?" 
 asked Mrs. Dexter. 
 
 " It 's jes' the number o' pennies the chillen kin 
 bring," explained the teacher. 
 
 Mrs. Dexter's lips twitched over the materiality 
 of this arrangement, and her gaze strayed along the 
 row of strangely dressed little darkies, with their 
 rolling glances and woolly heads. In jackets made 
 of old bed-blankets, or frocks of faded calico, and 
 odd head-gear, they sat there in a motley pictur 
 esque row, the short, tight braids standing out 
 stiffly all over their heads, and their solemn, shift 
 ing stares fixed upon the lieutenant's red and gold, 
 or the pretty costumes of the ladies. 
 
 But soon there was no idle time for worldly con 
 siderations of either army or civil life. Mrs. Jack 
 son took up her Testament, and supplied each of 
 the older children with one. 
 
 " Who kin tell me the Golden Tex' fo' to-day ? " 
 she inquired. 
 
 No one answered, but every pair of round eyes 
 was instantly fixed upon her in an unblinking 
 stare. 
 
 " All right ! Then we 've got to learn it now.
 
 THE "BAPTIZE." 131 
 
 Come on ! ' Bless'd are the merc'ful, fo' they 
 shall 'btain mercy.' All together now, come on ! 
 ' Bless'd are the merc'ful,' ye ain't dumb, are 
 ye ? Say it with me, now. ' Bless'd are the 
 merc'M'" 
 
 Mrs. Jackson had laid down her book and risen 
 from her chair, and was hovering over the children 
 with outstretched, waving hands, like an enormous 
 tropical bird. Her pupils sat on the very edge of 
 their seats, their braids electrically erect, and gazed 
 up into the round spectacles that moved from one 
 face to another as the teacher exhorted and coaxed 
 and repeated by turns, frowning at a delinquent, 
 and smiling with admiring pointing finger at some 
 bold and successful spirit who, galvanized into 
 speech, loudly proclaimed the text. 
 
 Whenever she perceived the flagging of the chil 
 dren's interest, with perfect tact she veered off sud 
 denly upon Moses in the bulrushes, or one of the 
 Commandments, until she recognized the proper 
 moment to return to the main object of the lesson. 
 
 Finally, in the general excitement, it was dis 
 covered that the teacher herself had forgotten the 
 precise wording of the text, but, turning for her 
 Testament, she found that it was closed and the 
 place lost. 
 
 After an instant's futile search, she stretched 
 out her quick, heavy hand toward the largest girl. 
 " Here, yo Rena. I ain't got time to fool. Gimme 
 yo' Bible, Yo Gunnavere, take that gum out yo'
 
 132 MfSS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 mouth, an' don't yo put it back again. ' Bless'd 
 are the inerc'f ul,' now, then, come on ! Yo goin' 
 to sleep there? Wake up yo' brains an' go into 
 it ! '/o' they shall 'btain mercy ' ! " 
 
 By this time Nathalie, too, was on the edge of 
 her chair. There was no cessation of the camp- 
 meeting whirl in which " Mis' Jackson " kept her 
 flock until the bell sounded for closing, when, in 
 stantly hushing, she turned to her guests with the 
 calm, expansive smile which seemed to indicate an 
 absolute freshness and willingness to begin over 
 again. 
 
 And that smile crept around the class when the 
 three guests, constituting themselves pupils pro 
 tern., augmented the class fund to such an extent 
 that, amid a satisfied display of ivories, Guine 
 vere marched across the Sunday-school room, and 
 brought back the silken banner to its old home 
 with " Mis' Jackson."
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 FORTRESS MONROE. 
 
 NATHALIE'S behavior on the way home from 
 church, and throughout the dinner that followed, 
 was so much more like that of her old light-hearted 
 self than Mrs. Dexter had seen since her home 
 coming, hat the mother put aside her vague sus 
 picions with relief. 
 
 Gerard stayed to dinner, and Mrs. Archer's 
 sharp eyes glanced many times from him to Na 
 thalie, and thence to Betty, as if exhorting the latter 
 to observe the degree of friendship which existed 
 between these two. 
 
 Nathalie's cheeks were pink, and she talked 
 more than usual, striving from time to time to 
 bring Betty into the conversation ; but it was Miss 
 Archer's turn to be monosyllabic. Her direct 
 glance and slight, amused smile were as spontane 
 ously attentive as ever, but she permitted Nathalie 
 to absorb the lieutenant. 
 
 After dinner Miss Dexter yielded to persuasion, 
 and played the piano for half an hour. 
 
 " You don't know what those things bring back 
 to me," said Roger, while Betty, with sparkling 
 eyes, stood close to the piano in her enthusiasm.
 
 134 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 Gerard went on to describe to the Archers his 
 dolcefar niente season beside the granite boulder ; 
 and Mrs. Archer listened with set thin lips. 
 
 Nathalie excused herself at last to write letters. 
 Her heart beat fast as she took her bright leave 
 of the group, and a look of excited triumph was on 
 her face when her mother followed her into their 
 room. 
 
 " I could n't tell you before all those people how 
 I enjoyed your music," said Mrs. Dexter fondly. 
 " What good work you have done in the last year ! 
 And what a rapt audience you had ! It was a sat 
 isfaction to watch Mr. Gerard and Miss Archer. 
 Those two young people are perhaps as congenial 
 in their tastes as Mrs. Archer wishes them to be. 
 No wonder she likes the idea of having him for a 
 son-in-law ! Are they really engaged ? " 
 
 " Don't ask me. I really know Mr. Gerard 
 very little." 
 
 " Indeed ? I judged from your sprightly table- 
 talk that you had seen considerable of each other." 
 
 " No." Nathalie smiled at herself oddly in the 
 glass, where her bright eyes confronted her. 
 "There was always a granite wall between us. 
 You just heard him say so." 
 
 Meanwhile Betty was bidding Koger good-by 
 at the gate. 
 
 " I envy you living in the house with that 
 music," he said. 
 
 " You need n't. I probably shan't hear any
 
 FORTRESS MONROE. 135 
 
 more till you come again. Yo' Miss Dexter is as 
 different from mine as can possibly be imagined." 
 
 " She probably needs time to become ac 
 quainted," returned Gerard. 
 
 " No," laughed Betty quietly ; " she needs the 
 chamois leather, just as I thought. You need n't 
 look martial. It 's a matter of temperament. 
 You know there are men's women and women's 
 women." 
 
 " I don't like for you to try to be cynical, 
 Betty." 
 
 "Oh,. I'm not cynical," she answered equably, 
 " only I 've noticed so many things since I was 
 bo'n." 
 
 " I 've taken you too often to the Hygeia." 
 
 " Yes, I 've learned some things there. Then 
 you know it 's very educating to live with Mrs. 
 Archer." 
 
 " Oh, Betty ! Keep the circle drawn about your 
 white self," rejoined Gerard warmly. " Keep 
 those eyes as clear as they are now. Notice some 
 things only to reject them, just as you always 
 have. It seems you are n't infallibly keen-sighted. 
 You are n't right about Miss Dexter, for in 
 stance." 
 
 Miss Archer made a mock courtesy. " We all 
 know men are infallible where reading a girl is 
 concerned." 
 
 " I like to see a woman stand up for her own 
 sex," remarked Gerard.
 
 136 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 " Does any one accuse me of not doing that ? " 
 A rare color showed in Miss Archer's cheeks. 
 "I didn't know this was a personal matter with 
 you, Roger. I supposed I could indulge in a little 
 character-study with you, who are near to me as a 
 brother, without harming any one." 
 
 " Hush, dear ! hush ! " he said, taking her hand. 
 " There is no shadow to be allowed to creep in 
 between us. You know you would not allow any 
 one to say of me that I was a woman's man." 
 
 " You you are a Virginian gentleman," said 
 Betty proudly. 
 
 " And you are a Virginian gentlewoman," re 
 turned Roger with a laugh. " Now honors are 
 easy, and I had better go. Let me prophesy, 
 though, that before a fortnight is out, you will 
 admit to me that Miss Dexter is a woman's 
 woman, and of a rare sort." 
 
 Betty's lips drew together, and her eyes were 
 solemn in their gaze. " She will never be mine if 
 she comes between you and me, Roger. I wonder 
 if you ever stop to realize, as I often do, that you 
 are all I have in this wide, wide world ! " 
 
 He returned her look with a steady, affectionate 
 gaze. " Don't you know that I can't imagine life 
 without you ? " he answered. 
 
 " It is still so, is it ? " she asked. 
 
 " It is still so, Betty. Why should not some 
 thing come of it ? " 
 
 " Something does come of it," she answered,
 
 FORTRESS MONROE. 137 
 
 smiling at him with such sweetness in lips and eyes 
 as seldom shone through the demureness of her ex 
 pression. " All the content of my life comes of it." 
 
 " Yet you don't want to marry me, dear ? " he 
 asked gently. 
 
 " I don't want any one else to," she said seri 
 ously. 
 
 He laughed a little. " Then perhaps you 're 
 coming on. Good-by, I must go." 
 
 He lifted his cap and hurried away. 
 
 Miss Dexter's window overlooked the gate. 
 She sat .beside it, her letter-paper before her ; but 
 it was a virgin sheet. 
 
 The following week Nathalie and her mother 
 devoted to sight-seeing. They visited Hampton 
 Institute, set with all its wealth of happy work 
 and usefulness in a very garden-spot of earth; 
 then they went to the Whittier School, where the 
 singing of hundreds of little colored children took 
 close hold on Nathalie's heart. 
 
 " How old are you, dear ? " she asked one mite. 
 
 " I 'm thix. I uthed to be five," answered the 
 big-eyed cherub in the flapping misfit shoes, which 
 sorely handicapped an effort at skipping in the 
 kindergarten games. 
 
 There were so many infants who had not yet 
 outlived being five, and even four, and whose ward 
 robes were grotesque, that the Dexters wished a 
 realizing sense of this school could be conveyed 
 to the North.
 
 138 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 " The children seem to enjoy everything so 
 much," observed Mrs. Dexter to a teacher in one 
 of the sunny, spacious rooms. 
 
 " Yes," she replied ; " it is great happiness to 
 them. When our first building burned, the vicin 
 ity became crowded with mourning children and 
 their parents. One woman told me the day after 
 the fire that she had had no end of trouble with 
 her little ones. She declared she had had to ' be 
 up all night spankin' the chillen to keep 'em from 
 cryin' ' ! " 
 
 The teacher went on to explain how, owing to 
 the shiftlessness as well as poverty of the parents, 
 the children were illy fed, even to an extent which 
 led to many a fainting little one's falling down in 
 the ranks during the school exercises. 
 
 " The peppermint bottle does poor service in 
 the case of that sort of cramps," said the patient 
 teacher, smiling. 
 
 After this talk, when all the children gathered 
 in the pleasant hall to sing, their voices gained 
 additional pathos to the hearers' ears. 
 
 The pupils stood in close lines, and sang from 
 memory. One little fellow who stood directly in 
 front of Nathalie especially interested her. Large 
 patches of brown skin showed through his stockings, 
 his ragged trousers were held on by a bit of twine, 
 and his corduroy jacket literally hung in ribbons 
 from his shoulders. His large head swayed to one 
 side in a sad fashion, and he lisped hopelessly.
 
 FORTRESS MONROE. 139 
 
 " Who f wallowed Jonah ? " he sang with the 
 others. 
 
 " Whale did f wallow Jonah whole ! " 
 
 Nathalie swallowed, too, with the clear, soaring 
 strains in her ears. 
 
 She behaved very well until the sweet cadence 
 of another hymn began ; but when the child before 
 her, with downcast eyes, sang : 
 
 "Nobody knows de trouble I see, 
 Nobody knows but Jesus," 
 
 her wroiight-up imagination overcame her self-con 
 trol, and she precipitately left the room. 
 
 " Yo' mother says you found a sorrowful side to 
 the Whittier School," remarked Betty Archer that 
 afternoon, as she joined Miss Dexter on the rustic 
 seat under one of the great trees. 
 
 " Oh, yes, I rather disgraced myself." Nathalie 
 gave her skirts a welcoming push to make more 
 room for the newcomer. " We waited, though, 
 until I could find out where my little boy lived. 
 His big sister finally informed me, although she 
 was almost discouraged in the effort when she 
 found I was so ignorant as not to know where 
 ' Barnes's Bar ' was. I could only discover that 
 my little boy lived near this saloon, and mother 
 and I set out upon a pious pilgrimage on foot to 
 find it. The affectionate persistence with which 
 we inquired for Barnes's Bar must make the Hamp 
 ton loafers believe that at least two women in this 
 place need the Keeley cure badly ! "
 
 140 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 " Did you find the house at last ? " 
 
 "Oh, yes, and our visit quite relieved my mind. 
 Another comfort is that I believe I can make my 
 friends at home take an interest in the school." 
 
 " If you knew how cheap co'n is here, you 
 would be out of all patience with such need as you 
 speak of." 
 
 " Yes ; but the children are n't to blame for the 
 parents' shiftlessness ; and they are not to blame 
 for the saloons. How the streets bristle with 
 them! In this lovely, lovely part of the world, 
 too!" 
 
 "Yes; you see there are the soldiers from the 
 fort to support the saloons, and then the Old Sol 
 diers' Home, though they have their own saloon, 
 run by an officer of the institution. That regu 
 lates the drinking somewhat there, and a great 
 deal of money is taken in, enough to pay for all 
 the old soldiers' amusements, such as the plays 
 that are given there, and their temperance lectures, 
 and"- 
 
 Nathalie's laugh interrupted the enumeration. 
 
 Betty smiled appreciatively. Each of the girls 
 had intended to maintain a cautious and non-com 
 mittal attitude toward the other, but Nathalie's 
 genuine new interest had lifted her out of a per 
 sonal rut, and her novel geniality at once disarmed 
 the gracious Southern, girl. 
 
 " I seem to do service as chamois leather maself 
 to-day," thought Betty.
 
 FORTRESS MONROE. 141 
 
 She renewed her invitation to attend parade, 
 and Nathalie accepted it. Mrs. Archer, when she 
 heard of the plan, decided to chaperon the girls, 
 and Mrs. Dexter was glad to support her in this 
 pleasant duty. 
 
 The easy refinement and innate kindness of Mrs. 
 Dexter's manner had won Mrs. Archer's reluctant 
 approval. 
 
 " Mrs. Dexter is a gentlewoman, whatever her 
 daughter may be," she remarked oracularly to 
 Betty. " She is n't like the usual bores who have 
 infested Edgewater since the autumn. She is 
 really very agreeable." 
 
 And having settled the status of her new ac 
 quaintance, Mrs. Archer proceeded to patronize 
 her, and enlighten her dense ignorance concerning 
 the characteristics and movements of some of Phil 
 adelphia's best families, with an affability which 
 Mrs. Dexter received with courteous submission. 
 
 Nathalie sighed rebelliously this afternoon as 
 the four skimmed in the electric car across the 
 bridge to Old Point, to observe the animated chat 
 ter which Mrs. Archer continued to pour into her 
 mother's ear. 
 
 They sought the pavilion in front of the Hygeia, 
 and there Nathalie adroitly managed to slip into a 
 seat between Mrs. Dexter and her lively bureau of 
 information. The present was too exhilarating to 
 make digging into the musty past endurable. 
 
 The White Squadron added majesty to the wide
 
 142 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 sweep of Hampton Roads ; the waves broke noisily 
 against piers and foamed upon the sands. The 
 bright, soft wind shook out the folds of flags. 
 The uniforms of army and naval officers enlivened 
 the long promenade before the hotel. The gay 
 strains of a band on one of the battleships pro 
 claimed that dainty feet were tripping about among 
 its grim steel guns. All was life, motion, color. 
 
 Mrs. Archer viewed the glowing interest of Na 
 thalie's face and heard her comments with disap 
 proval. It was distressingly provincial to show so 
 much pleasure : and she had been just about to 
 tell Mrs Dexter about Mrs. Bartholomew Baum- 
 garten's reckless second marriage. 
 
 "Three cheers for the red, white, and blue 
 seems to be in the very air, does n't it ? " said Na 
 thalie. " There should be a few eagles screaming 
 over the parapet of the fort yonder." 
 
 " Oh, we 're nothing if not patriotic down here," 
 returned Betty. " Even the very crabs would 
 scorn to be disloyal. Have you noticed ? " 
 
 She indicated the walk just outside the water- 
 bound pavilion where they were. A little group 
 of people were engaged there in catching crabs. 
 The shellfish would attack the lump of meat at 
 the end of a string, and then find themselves 
 snapped out of the water upon the sunny boards, 
 where they wildly waved their brilliant red, white, 
 and blue arms in comical conformity to their en 
 vironment.
 
 FORTRESS MONROE. 143 
 
 " I want to take you up on the parapet before 
 parade," said Betty, " so I think we had better 
 
 go-" 
 
 They sauntered on toward the hotel, and as they 
 turned east on the board walk, Nathalie could hear 
 fragments behind her of the resumed history of 
 the Bartholomew Baumgartens. 
 
 Entering the fort, the quartette wandered on 
 beside the cannon, which stand like horses in their 
 arched stables along the outside of the quiet moat, 
 each gun trained upon the waters of Chesapeake 
 Bay. Mounting an inclined plane which led to 
 the summit of the earthworks, the party walked 
 along the rampart, high above the rolling expanse 
 of water. 
 
 Out toward the open ocean, far as eye could 
 reach, the ships were coming and going. The 
 waves were breaking high on the deserted, crum 
 bling fort, known as "The Rip Raps." The air 
 was balmy. Nathalie stood still to view the marine 
 picture, and the others stopped perforce. 
 
 " We might as well walk along," suggested Mrs. 
 Archer curtly. She feared the girl was going to 
 rob her again of her companion's attention. 
 
 " Yes, I think we might as well, too," observed 
 a masculine voice. 
 
 " Mr. Andreas ! " ejaculated Nathalie, wheeling 
 about. 
 
 Gerard was accompanying his newly arrived 
 friend, and there was a good deal of laughter and
 
 144 MfSS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 hand-shaking, and Russell was presented to Mrs. 
 Dexter and beamed upon solicitously by Mrs. 
 Archer before he found himself moving along 
 beside Betty in the little procession. 
 
 " At last, Miss Archer Archer, we meet again. 
 Kindly admit that it seems long since I called on 
 you in the winter ! " 
 
 "When you called on Miss Toothaker, you 
 mean." 
 
 " What a pity that blessed woman never 
 changed that excruciating name ! " remarked An 
 dreas. " Well, how goes art ? All those fetching- 
 little hearts and darts and cherubs and things that 
 you do? Miss Pris showed me some of your 
 pretty cards. Call that work, do you? Ah," 
 sighing, " if you were only in the insurance busi 
 ness." 
 
 " It seems to be a nice, malleable sort of a busi 
 ness, takes you No'th in summer and South in 
 winter in what looks to the uninitiated like a 
 mighty obliging way." 
 
 " Oh, well," turning out his hands in a gesture 
 of assent, " of course if you 're not glad to see 
 me"- 
 
 " Well, what then ? " 
 
 " Why," cheerfully, " I can drown myself. 
 There 's plenty of water about." 
 
 " Don't drown yourself till you 've seen Edge- 
 water in the spring. Ask Miss Dexter." 
 
 " See Edgewater and die is her motto eh ? "
 
 FORTRESS MONROE. 145 
 
 " Are n't you surprised to find the Dexters here? " 
 
 " Should have been stunned, only Gerard mer 
 cifully prepared me." 
 
 " Miss Dexter is a great friend of yo's, is n't 
 she?" 
 
 " Well, I hope so. Of course, I 'm not in it 
 with Gerard. I like music, upon my word I do : 
 something you can feel the time to, you know ; but 
 I can't look soulful and entranced over a jumble 
 of runs and jumps, the way he can, and she 's all 
 wrapped up in that sort of thing. Besides," smil 
 ing with quick significance into his companion's 
 eyes, "she has never rescued me, you know." 
 
 " What do you mean ? " 
 
 " Did n't he tell you ? Then, by the jolly jump 
 ing John Rogers, I must n't ! " 
 
 " But," imperiously, " you must, I assure you." 
 
 " My dear Miss Betty ! say, you don't care if 
 I call you my dear Miss Betty, do you? My 
 mother said I might, you don't know what you 
 ask." 
 
 " Very well," frigidly. " I '11 ask Roger." 
 
 " Heavens ! I hate to get grass-stains on these 
 ducks, but I '11 go down on my knees if you say so 
 plump ! Dear, good, kind Miss Archer Archer, 
 don't give me away ! " 
 
 " But Roger never kept a secret from me befo'. 
 It makes a lump come right up in my throat." 
 
 " Swallow it ; swallow it. It was nothing, the 
 merest trifle. A little breach of the convenances,
 
 146 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 a mere nothing; but you know Roger. His 
 sense of chivalry would force him to have me 
 court-martialed, imprisoned. I don't believe you 
 can look into my trustful eyes and have the heart 
 to blight my young life. It isn't even insured. 
 Shoemakers' children, you know, go barefoot." 
 
 " A breach of the convenances chivalry ? See 
 here, Mr. Andreas, I really can't stand it." 
 
 " Do you know what I said to myself when I 
 first saw you ? " impressively. " I said to myself : 
 ' Now, there is a girl who must have had some an 
 cestress other than Eve. She has no curiosity, 
 absolutely none.' ' 
 
 " See here ! " called Gerard after the engrossed 
 pair. "Are you going all the way around the 
 fort ? Come down." 
 
 " Ah, that voice ! " shuddered Andreas dramat 
 ically. "I give you my unvarnished word as an 
 insurance man that I 'm in a cold perspiration. 
 Stand by me now, Miss Betty, and I '11 never 
 forget.it." 
 
 " I 'm too proud to ask either of them," said 
 the girl, as they turned and followed the others 
 down the bank. 
 
 Russell took off his hat and mopped his brow. 
 "In that case I 'm saved ! " he ejaculated.
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 IN THE STUDIO. 
 
 RETREAT had sounded in the hush that precedes 
 the resounding cannon, and the band was now giv 
 ing forth the strains of the " Star-Spangled Ban 
 ner." The ranks of artillery-men stood waiting 
 for the. final drill, long, brilliant lines of red- 
 decked figures on the wide parade ground guarded 
 by its live-oaks. 
 
 Mrs. Archer cast withering glances at certain 
 women who had risen to their feet, obstructing her 
 view. 
 
 " Deliver us from these ostentatious patriots who 
 chatter all through parade when you want to listen 
 to the officers, and then rise for the ' Star-Span 
 gled Banner ' and get in the way when you want 
 to see the parade ground ! " she ejaculated. 
 
 " Yes, indeed ! " agreed Nathalie, who was view 
 ing her first military pageant, and was naturally 
 impressed thereby. 
 
 " Mrs. Archer nevejr grows tired of parade," re 
 marked Betty. " She sco'ns the side-glances one 
 obtains from the quarters. Nothing satisfies her 
 but a seat directly facing the clock on the bar 
 racks."
 
 148 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 "Excellent taste," said Nathalie, giving Mrs. 
 Archer her first approving look. 
 
 That lady seemed to consider herself accused of 
 weakness, and bridled virtuously. 
 
 "I should assume an interest if I had it not, 
 for Roger's sake." 
 
 The young officer soon appeared, and the party 
 rose to make their adieux to him. 
 
 " Give my respects to Miss Pris," said Andreas, 
 turning to Betty. 
 
 " Then she is n't expecting you this evening ? " 
 
 " No, I believe there is n't room for me yet. 
 I'll stay with Gerard to-night, and run over to 
 morrow to see how the land lies. And remember, 
 Miss Archer Archer, to remain a proud lady ! " 
 
 " I think yo 're putting on a great deal of 
 unnecessary anxiety. I think yo 're doing it on 
 purpose to rouse ma curiosity." 
 
 Andreas made a gesture of dissent, and his 
 expressive eyes spoke his comic yet real dismay. 
 
 " Indeed I 'm not, I assure you." 
 
 " It is so small to have secrets," said Miss 
 Archer loftily. 
 
 " Still smaller to try to discover them, remem 
 ber." 
 
 "Good-by, Roger." Betty intended the lieu 
 tenant to feel the coldness in her tone as she turned 
 to him ; and he did observe it. 
 
 He walked along beside her as the party moved 
 toward the postern entrance to the Fort.
 
 IN THE STUDIO. 149 
 
 " The Dexters want to go to Newport News and 
 to Norfolk," he said. 
 
 " Indeed ? " 
 
 " Yes. Can't we take them together ? " 
 
 " The same day ? " asked Miss Archer. 
 
 Gerard smiled down at her. " What are you 
 making difficulties for ? There are enough days, 
 are n't there ? " 
 
 " Not for me. I have work to do. I 'm not 
 an army officer with nothing to kill but time." 
 
 " Hello ! hello ! " murmured the lieutenant, in 
 surprise- more at her manner than her words. 
 " What has happened, Betty, since we last met ? " 
 
 " Mr. Andreas has come." 
 
 " Well, he has n't made such a hit with you that 
 you can't be civil to me any more, has he?" 
 Gerard smiled as he asked it. 
 
 Mortified color swept to Betty's cheeks at his 
 jocose tone. " You would n't care if he had," she 
 exclaimed. " You can laugh! " 
 
 " What nonsense, dear ! Is n't it because we 
 are sure of each other?" and as they all just 
 now entered the vault-like passageway beneath the 
 parapet, the lieutenant utilized the darkness to 
 press the hand that hung at her side. 
 
 She withdrew it. 
 
 " What has come to you, Betty ? Tell me, 
 child." 
 
 They emerged into the sunlight and crossed the 
 moat in silence. Betty was a little pale, but she
 
 150 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 looked at her companion now, calmly. " It seems 
 to me that this afternoon I 've waked up for the 
 first time in ma life. It has all been dreaming till 
 now." 
 
 " What roused you ? " 
 
 " Mr. Andreas." 
 
 " Of course I don't understand you." 
 
 They had fallen behind the others. " Are n't 
 you going to tell me what portentous thing Rusty 
 said to you ? " 
 
 " It does n't matter. Some few words he dropped 
 had a strange effect on me. They made me jeal 
 ous. I believe I was never jealous befo', not even 
 when papa got married." 
 
 " What in the world should Rusty " 
 
 "Never mind him. Really his part in it is 
 nothing. It is this strange feeling of mine that 
 I have to study and understand." 
 
 She looked at him with steady questioning, and 
 he felt as if some intangible veil was falling be 
 tween them. He hastened to speak, lest in another 
 minute the words would not come. 
 
 " Do you mean do you mean " the gentle 
 chivalry of his manner was more marked than 
 ever. " Do you mean you felt jealous concern 
 ing me ? " 
 
 It would have been so easy to ask the question 
 a week ago. Why now did it come with conscious 
 difficulty ? 
 
 "Yes, that is what I mean." She looked up
 
 AV THE STUDIO. 151 
 
 at him wistfully. They had stopped on the quiet 
 walk at a little distance from the spot where the 
 others of the party were waiting for a car. " Do 
 I," her voice dropped still lower, in a sort of 
 awe, " do I love you, Roger ? " 
 
 " Did we ever doubt it, dear ? " 
 
 "But that way that frightening way? You 
 asked me to marry you, Sunday. No you sug 
 gested it." 
 
 " As I have done several times before." 
 
 " Yes ; it used to seem the best plan to us. 
 Don't you remember we determined not to be like 
 the silly people in books and set ourselves against 
 the match just because our fathers wished it ? 
 And we have drifted along, drifted along." 
 
 A car whizzed by, and the waiting quartette 
 looked over toward the absorbed pair with some 
 impatience. 
 
 "Those foolish children!" said Mrs. Archer, 
 consciously, loth to disturb what she believed was 
 being a salutary object-lesson to this girl with her 
 musical fascinations. " Should n't you think they 
 had time enough to talk without detaining us like 
 this ? Betty ! " calling ; " Betty, how many cars 
 do you want us to miss ? " 
 
 The girl started. " I must talk to you again, 
 Roger, and I must think." 
 
 " Don't worry," he answered soothingly. " Of 
 course these matters don't stand still. Take your 
 time. For one thing, you are sure of me."
 
 152 ^ MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 She looked up into his beautiful eyes, and gave 
 him a curious little smile. 
 
 " No," she answered unexpectedly. " I am not 
 sure of you ; " then she hurried forward to join the 
 others, and Gerard followed perforce. 
 
 Andreas found an opportunity to seize Miss Arch 
 er's hand in farewell. 
 
 " Unfeeling girl ! What have you been saying 
 to him ? What do you suppose my state of mind 
 has been all this time ? " he murmured, in the 
 jingling of the approaching car. " I give you my 
 word; I feel like an invertebrate animal. Nothing 
 but heroic will-power keeps me from flopping down 
 on all fours. What fate are you leaving me to ! " 
 
 "You'll never get more' than you deserve, I'm 
 sure of that," returned Miss Archer lightly. Then 
 she followed her friends into the open car, and fell 
 into thought as they glided across the bridge in 
 the transfiguring glory of sunset, soft reds and 
 molten gold of sky irradiating the water, and bath 
 ing the still sails of ships in lovqly Hampton 
 Roads. 
 
 Gerard and his friend reentered the fort in the 
 dying glow, the former thoughtful, and the latter, 
 to judge by his unsmiling countenance, equally so. 
 
 Andreas broke the silence. " Should you 
 become engaged without announcing it to me, 
 Roger?" 
 
 The lieutenant smiled. " I '11 never marry with 
 out inviting you to the wedding, Rusty."
 
 IN THE STUDIO. 153 
 
 " Miss Archer is one of the most attractive girls 
 I ever saw," said Andreas bluntly. 
 
 " You 're a judge, old man. Thank you." 
 
 " What are you thanking me for? " retorted the 
 other. 
 
 " Does it offend you ? " asked Gerard, amused. 
 
 " Of course it does, unless you 're engaged to 
 her." 
 
 " That is something I can't inform you about." 
 
 " That 's what hurts. When I was here in the 
 winter, a dozen people on the post spoke to me 
 of your, engagement to Miss Archer. It seemed 
 to me that I was as near to you as they, yet you 
 never said a word to me about it." 
 
 " Nor to them, I assure you. It is a fact that I 
 don't yet know myself whether Miss Archer will 
 honor me." 
 
 " Oh ! " Andreas's face expressed the most 
 earnest interest. " You are on probation, then ? " 
 
 The lieutenant kept a short silence. 
 
 " This is a good deal of a catechism," he sug 
 gested. 
 
 " Yes, it is," was the curt reply. " Beg pardon, 
 old chap." 
 
 The conversation turning upon other matters, it 
 was not until after the two men had parted for the 
 night, and Gerard was thinking over Betty's un 
 usual behavior and words, that the questions put 
 by Andreas returned to his mind. 
 
 An entirely novel thought came with them, and
 
 154 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 he suddenly threw himself into a chair to consider 
 it. How much had Russell seen of Miss Archer in 
 Washington? Then had come the few hours he 
 had spent with her on a winter day at Edgewater. 
 This afternoon they had met again. There were 
 many cases on record of love at first sight. Was 
 it possible that Andreas found himself so deeply 
 impressed with the young girl that those questions 
 had been put with a purpose deeper than curiosity 
 or a friendly regard for his college chum ? 
 
 Gerard interrogated his own sensations with 
 sudden and lively interest. Provided the suppo 
 sition had any ground, did he resent it? He had 
 always supposed that some day he should marry 
 Betty Archer. That he was fond of her went 
 without saying. Now he searched himself for the 
 symptoms of jealous alarm which the presence of 
 such a rival as Russell Andreas ought to inspire. 
 
 Instead of the heat and excitement which the 
 occasion demanded, he found himself dwelling with 
 curiosity on the question of Russell's state of mind. 
 That a man sought after as he had been should 
 capitulate so suddenly to a simple Southern girl, 
 who had never made the smallest pretense to fash 
 ion or position, as position is counted at the North, 
 was strange, if true. How would Mrs. Archer 
 like it? Gerard smiled as he considered the ques 
 tion. She had been more than favorable to him 
 self, thanks to the fact that he possessed something 
 beside his income from the government ; but An-
 
 IN THE STUDIO. 155 
 
 dreas was a Philadelphian of the Philadelphians. 
 Little doubt but that she would graciously trans^ 
 fer her favor to him. 
 
 " Well, how does that consideration affect me ? " 
 asked the lieutenant of himself, with some impa 
 tience of his own calmness. 
 
 He sighed after a vain attempt to detect some 
 hastening of his pulses. " I suppose the truth is 
 I 'in too sure of Betty to be disturbed," he decided. 
 " She said she was n't sure of me. What could 
 she have meant by that ? " 
 
 He rode over to Edgewater on his bicycle next 
 day to find out. Leaving the dusty road, he 
 entered the peaceful, green, blossoming grounds, 
 only to meet Miss Dexter coming down the box- 
 edged path, her hat on, and parasol in hand. 
 
 He met her brightly. " I am unlucky. You are 
 going away." 
 
 " Yes, to the post-office ; but Miss Archer is at 
 home." 
 
 " So you do not consider that politeness requires 
 you to turn around, then ? " 
 
 " Not at all." Nathalie smiled. " Is n't this 
 air delicious ? I go about asking every one that 
 until I suppose they think me imbecile ; but does 
 it ever storm here ? " 
 
 "I hope it will pretty soon. The roads are 
 dusty. I can't expect you will go with me on 
 the wheel until the dust is laid ? " 
 
 " I have n't mine here."
 
 156 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 " I can get one for you." 
 
 " You are very kind ; but please don't feel the 
 least responsibility of my entertainment. I came 
 here to be lazy." 
 
 " Well, you find pretty good facilities. Too 
 good, I fear." 
 
 "Why?" 
 
 " I 'm afraid you may neglect your practicing." 
 
 "Oh!" 
 
 " Still more afraid that you won't have regular 
 times for it." 
 
 "Indeed?" 
 
 " And let me know when they are." 
 
 " There are no rocks here." 
 
 " I know ; but perhaps some less solid ambush 
 might serve by this time." 
 
 " No ambush would answer here. Good-by. I 
 must go. I have been sent for the mail." 
 
 She made a hasty movement. 
 
 " Are you going to Old Point ? " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " Won't you let me run over for you on my 
 wheel?" 
 
 " Thank you. I want the walk." 
 
 "Then why may I not go with you" 
 
 " Good-morning, Roger." It was Betty's voice 
 which called from the gallery. 
 
 " Good-by," said Nathalie, speaking low, and 
 moving quickly away. 
 
 " I just caught a glimpse of yo' red stripes
 
 IN THE STUDIO. 157 
 
 through the green," continued Miss Archer, as, 
 lifting his cap, the lieutenant rolled his wheel up 
 the path toward her and leaned it against a pillar. 
 " Birds of bright plumage are convenient when it 
 comes to locating them." 
 
 " But think what precarious lives they lead. 
 They never know when they are safe ! " 
 
 " You are right saucy, sir, and you can go away. 
 I don't want to see you." 
 
 " We differ, then, for I do want to see you. I 
 came on purpose." 
 
 " Did you really ? Dear old Roger ! But you 
 have seen me now, and I 've had an order for some 
 dinner favors, and I 'm obliged to begin them this 
 morning." 
 
 " Bring your painting-table out here." 
 
 " And have the wind blow ma things all about ? 
 No, thank you." 
 
 " Then I '11 come in and help you do them." 
 
 " Ah, Roger ! Is that you?" Mrs. Archer came 
 upon the scene. " Have you brought Mr. Andreas 
 over ? " 
 
 " No ; Mr. Andreas is on his way to Norfolk by 
 this time." 
 
 " I do think it very queer Miss Toothaker 
 couldn't arrange to receive him immediately," 
 pursued Mrs. Archer impatiently. " This whole 
 plebeian arrangement becomes frightfully annoy 
 ing when it is our own friends who wish to gain 
 admittance here."
 
 158 .VISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 " Well, Andreas is Miss Toothaker's friend," 
 suggested Gerard. 
 
 " Nonsense ! He regards her as he would a 
 good, faithful servant, of course. He is your 
 friend, and therefore Betty's and mine ; and I hope 
 he won't be discouraged because he has to be held 
 off in this way. I wish you would explain to him, 
 Roger, that Betty and I have actually no more to 
 do with the rooms here than if we were in Cali 
 fornia at the present moment." 
 
 The lieutenant regarded the speaker thought 
 fully. Her interest in his friend had gained a new 
 meaning in his eyes. His glance roved to Betty, 
 and a tenderness grew in his heart at the very 
 sight of her familiar face in the light of his new 
 thought. If the care of her happiness were to 
 pass out of his own keeping, how much of respon 
 sibility and solicitude he should feel ! 
 
 " Rusty is very comfortable with me for the 
 present, thank you, Mrs. Archer. I think his 
 proud spirit can brook eating the bread of de 
 pendence till Miss Toothaker is ready for him." 
 
 Gerard followed Betty into the house to a little 
 room where, beside a window, stood the artist's 
 table. Drawing-board, sketches, pencils, paints, 
 brushes, bits of water-color paper, scraps of bolt 
 ing-cloth, made a litter out of which she now pro 
 ceeded to bring order, seating herself before the 
 table for the purpose. 
 
 " Don't you think Miss Dexter looks better than
 
 IN THE STUDIO. 159 
 
 when she first came ? " asked the lieutenant, as he 
 drew up a chair for himself, and began turning 
 over the outlined sketches of aesthetic female 
 figures. 
 
 " I reckon she does. Why ? Did she look very 
 different last summer ? " 
 
 " Her face was rounder, yes, and of course 
 sunburned, you know." 
 
 " Do you admire sunburned girls ? " 
 
 " We were all in the same boat up there in 
 Maine, shaded red and brown. Oh, it was fine ! 
 The music of waves, nothing quiet and soothing 
 like this, but inspiring and full of vitality and ac 
 tion. I would like to show you that place, Betty." 
 
 " But one should have the accompaniment of 
 Miss Dexter's music, I reckon. I 've been think 
 ing about those day-dreams of yo's, Roger. What 
 were they like ? " 
 
 The lieutenant met her lifted blue eyes. " Can 
 one tell day-dreams ? " 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 " Does one, then ? Dreams are great bores, 
 other people's dreams." 
 
 " Was I in them, Roger ? " she asked slowly. 
 
 He smiled at her. " I believe I was fifteen years 
 old when I had the pleasure of meeting you first, 
 Miss Archer. I doubt if there has been a day 
 since that time when I have not thought of you 
 Yes, possibly during my siege at West Point there 
 might have been some seasons when math, and
 
 160 JfISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 chim. and sundry other tortures drove you and all 
 other joys out of my head." 
 
 " Yes, in winter that was all very well ; but 
 did n't any features of the summer ever drive me 
 out of yo' head ? " 
 
 Gerard laughed. " When you start in to be 
 jealous, you cover the ground, don't you, Betty ? " 
 
 She dropped her hands on the drawing-board, 
 and regarded him. " I told you yesterday that 
 I must think, and I 've done so. I realize for the 
 first time how much of yo' life has been lived with 
 out me. There were girls at the university. There 
 were girls at West Point." 
 
 " You are not going to ask me to number those 
 sands of the sea, are you ? " asked Gerard, lifting 
 his eyebrows in mock dismay. 
 
 " Only those you were in love with." 
 
 He looked away a moment, then slowly back to 
 her. 
 
 " Is this just a case of flippant give and take ? 
 I suppose you are not in earnest." 
 
 " Are you trying to reproach me ? Are you 
 going to say you did not flirt at West Point ? " 
 
 " Oh ! cadet officers all flirt. Even privates 
 have been known to. It is part of the curriculum." 
 Gerard's eyes smiled again. " And I was a cap 
 tain, remember." 
 
 " You did it against your will, of course." 
 
 " I don't remember ever taking a very active 
 part in the operation. It wasn't necessary.''
 
 IN THE STUDIO. 161 
 
 " Roger Gerard ! That is the most unchivalrous 
 thing I ever heard you say." 
 
 " Oh, no," protested the lieutenant quietly. 
 " Custom, you know, custom. That sort of 
 thing is made very graceful and easy for a cadet. 
 The regulations compel him to be comparatively 
 passive, and to wait as a rule for aggression from 
 the other side of the camp line. It usually comes, 
 and then he slips easily along the path of least 
 resistance." 
 
 Betty painted a minute in silence before she 
 spoke. 
 
 " Roger, how many times have you been in love ? " 
 
 He looked at her. She was gazing at him as if 
 she must have his thoughts. 
 
 " Should I be likely to be in that condition 
 without telling you ? " 
 
 "How do I know?" 
 
 He looked down a moment, and then up at her 
 again with a new, serious expression. 
 
 " I have a glimmering idea that to be in love is 
 an extremely sacred thing," he said simply. 
 
 " But you do not know by experience ? " 
 
 "I scarcely " He hesitated. 
 
 " Yet you have asked me to marry you." Betty 
 spoke gravely. " How do you excuse yo'self ? " 
 
 A bird-song floated in at the open window. The 
 two sat absolutely still for half a minute, their 
 faces averted. At last Gerard turned to her and 
 spoke gently.
 
 162 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 " Are not our lives the explanation ? There is 
 no reason for you to feel bitterly toward me. If 
 you could examine into my life," her very help 
 lessness to do so smote upon him and made him 
 take her listless hand, " you would find nothing 
 in it disloyal to you." 
 
 She regarded him with a strange little smile. 
 " Then if I 'm in love with you, ma fate is a sad 
 one, is n't it ? " 
 
 " No, no, Betty. Don't say it ! " he returned, 
 with quick pain. " Never was man more devoted 
 to woman than I will be to you, if you decide that 
 your happiness is to marry me. I swear that." 
 
 " And you will bury yo' regret, whatever 
 comes?" 
 
 He looked directly into her eyes. " There will 
 be no Hark ! " He interrupted himself sud 
 denly, turned away, and rose noiselessly to his feet. 
 Through walls and closed doors came a delicious, 
 plaintive melody with a flowing accompaniment. 
 It was the first thing he had heard Nathalie play, 
 on his turf couch by the boulder at the Pulpit. 
 
 " Miss Dexter said she was going to Old Point," 
 he murmured. 
 
 Betty looked up at him scrutinizingly, wistfully. 
 "People change their minds," she answered softly.
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE LIEUTENANT OFFENDS. 
 
 " Do you know that mother of yours is just the 
 best woman in this world ? " asked Miss Toothaker 
 of Nathalie, as she came out to where the latter 
 was swinging in a hammock under the trees. 
 
 " Who would n't be good here ? " returned Miss 
 Dexter. " I 'm good myself." 
 
 Miss Priscilla sat down on a rustic seat. She 
 took her rests in odd moments and places, just 
 alighting, as it were, occasionally, on her way from 
 one duty to another. 
 
 " To watch the way she looks out to see if she 
 can't help me, and does little things to make the 
 other boarders enjoy themselves, and lets Mrs. 
 Archer talk her to death, always havin' some work 
 in those pretty hands o' hers, so 's nobody can 
 really waste her time. It 's just a comfort to have 
 her around ! I hope you realize, Nathalie Dexter, 
 if you don't ever have another blessin' in life, that 
 your mother, with her sweet face and the calm, 
 happy light shinin' in her eyes, is blessin' enough 
 for one girl." 
 
 " Do you know, Miss Toothaker, that is a very 
 good thing to remember ? " said Nathalie, regard-
 
 164 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 ing Priscilla and speaking slowly. " Miss Archer 
 has no such blessing as that." 
 
 " No, poor lamb." 
 
 " I probably appeared very idle to you when you 
 came out here under the trees," went on Nathalie, 
 looking up into the boughs, " but that was merely 
 an appearance." 
 
 " 'T was, eh ? What you up to ? " 
 
 " I 've just discovered that I was meant to be 
 a poet. I 've been turning into one ever since I 
 arrived here. Now that the locust-trees have blos 
 somed, and the roses are blooming, and the whole 
 atmosphere smells like sweet peas, I feel that the 
 time has come. Wonderful things are seething in 
 my brain. There is only a thin veil between me 
 and the most graceful poem of nature that ever 
 was written." 
 
 " Well, I wish you good luck. That avenue o' 
 locusts out there in the road is sightly, ain't it? 
 The green is so fresh and delicate, and the clusters 
 o' bloom all over 'em makes 'em look as if they 
 were all trimmed up with festoons o' white lace. 
 Your ma likes those trees. Says she had locusts 
 on her weddin' bonnet." 
 
 " Yes, she told me," said Nathalie softly. " That 
 is part of the poem ; but, alas," with a sigh, 
 "though it would make a poet's fortune to look 
 into my brain, I fear I shall never be able to 
 straighten out the sweet tangle." 
 
 Miss Toothaker looked around approvingly on
 
 TIIK LIEUTENANT OFFENDS. 165 
 
 the tall, thick rosebushes, rapidly covering with 
 flowers in all stages of blossoming. " Folks down 
 here say the roses are early this year. I guess 
 your ma has loved 'em into bloom. I guess there 
 ain't a day since she came that she has n't gone 
 around to every bush on the place, lookin' at the 
 buds. I 'd bloom in their place. There she is this 
 minute, over yonder. Who 's she got with her ? 
 Mr. Andreas ? Yes. There ain't anybody else 
 around quite so big as he is. Let 's see what 
 they 're goin' to do. I '11 bet she 's goin' to show 
 him the Pride of India tree. Yes, sir, that 's just 
 what she 's doin'." 
 
 Priscilla watched with interested eyes as the 
 pair crossed the lawn to the tree with its stiff and 
 gorgeous purple clusters. 
 
 " Your ma 's tickled to pieces with those flowers ; 
 
 says the calyx is just like wash-leather. See here, 
 
 they 're goin' off ! They don't see us. I 've got 
 
 to speak to Mr. Andreas. I know he wants me. 
 
 Shall I call him ? " 
 
 " No, no ! He does n't fit into my poem. He is 
 too material." 
 
 Miss Priscilla started up and hurried after her 
 friends, calling upon Russell Andreas, who turned. 
 Excusing himself from his companion, he came to 
 meet the housekeeper. 
 
 " Good-afternoon," she said. " I suppose you 're 
 after me." 
 
 " You know I have been for years, Miss Pris," 
 he returned with sentiment.
 
 166 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 " Go 'way, goose," she returned ; but she smiled, 
 for she declared within herself that it was good for 
 sore eyes to see him again. 
 
 " That 's unkind," he said reproachfully. " How 
 ever, you have a rival at last." 
 
 " Who is it this time ? " 
 
 " Mrs. Dexter. Is n't she more than charming ? 
 I 've been talking with her for the last half hour, 
 and I 've lost my heart entirely." 
 
 " Oh, cheer up ! There 's a string to that heart 
 o' yours, sure." 
 
 " No, no ! " gravely. " This time it 's the real 
 divine spark I feel. There is n't a doubt of it." 
 
 " The real ' divine spork,' eh ? " mimicked Miss 
 Toothaker, laughing. 
 
 " That 's unkind again," remarked Russell. 
 
 " She says," he added, " charming Mrs. Dex 
 ter says that she thinks the superfluous creature 
 who has had my room here has at last consented 
 to get off the earth." 
 
 " Sounds like Mrs. Dexter." 
 
 " That is a free translation of what she said, but 
 is the spirit of it correct ?" 
 
 " Yes. You can come now whenever you want 
 to. There was a woman over from one o' the 
 hotels this mornin' wanted to come here so bad 
 that when she found I had n't a room for her, she 
 sat right down on the piazza and cried." 
 
 " Peri at the gates of Paradise, was n't it ? Well, 
 that makes you realize, Miss Pris, what might have
 
 THE LIEUTENANT OFFENDS. 167 
 
 happened if you had met me with a negative 
 answer. I tell you," impressively, " when I weep, 
 I weep, and it is n't any laughing matter." 
 
 Miss Toothaker looked at the speaker kindly. 
 " Well, I 'in glad we can take you. It does seem 
 like good old times to have you 'round with your 
 fool remarks." 
 
 Andreas lifted his eyebrows and smiled. " You 
 do me too much honor," he said, bowing and bring 
 ing his hat to his heart. 
 
 Mrs. Archer gave the young Philadelphian the 
 most cordial of welcomes, and in the days that fol 
 lowed showed such an embarrassing disposition to 
 secure tete-a-tetes with him in order to discover 
 and discuss mutual acquaintances, that he finally 
 took refuge in a truly pitiable ignorance. 
 
 " The fact is, I 've been so much away, Mrs. 
 Archer, I 'm afraid my mother's friends have for 
 gotten me ; and really, I suppose it 's a shame, but 
 I 've pretty well forgotten them. You will have 
 to make great allowances for me." 
 
 " An Andreas will never be forgotten in Phila 
 delphia," she responded superbly. " When you 
 return there, you will find open doors and open 
 arms." 
 
 " You alarm me. I am naturally shy." 
 
 " We shall meet there some time," declared Mrs. 
 Archer, in such an uplifted manner that Russell 
 laughed frankly. 
 
 " You speak as if you believed that good Amer
 
 168 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 leans go to Philadelphia when they die. I 've 
 always understood that Paris was the goal." 
 
 " Excuse me," retorted his companion. " My 
 idea of heaven is n't of a place where all the drivers 
 try to run over you, and fine you if they succeed." 
 
 " Oh ! he has such a manner ! " she declared 
 afterward to Betty. " There is such a je ne sais 
 quoi about him ! He is a kingly man." 
 
 Mrs. Archer fell into thought, regarding the 
 figure of her daughter painting busily at her table. 
 
 " You are a very odd girl," she said at last im 
 patiently. " Why don't you say something ? " 
 
 " What, for instance ? " 
 
 "Make some comment on Mr. Andreas. Tell 
 me what you think of him." 
 
 " Why, you have covered the ground. I think 
 with you there is a,je ne sais quoi about him." 
 
 " And you admire him, of course ? " 
 
 " I don't think I 'm a very admiring person." 
 
 " You never would confide in me," complained 
 Mrs. Archer with heat. 
 
 " I 've nothing to confide, indeed I have n't," 
 returned the girl mildly. 
 
 " Betty Archer, sometimes I think you are the 
 deepest creature in existence, and then again I 
 believe you are as transparent as a child of five ! 
 A blind man in a dark cellar could see that Mr. 
 Andreas admires you." 
 
 " And Miss Dexter." 
 
 " I deny it. He does n't care a rap for all that
 
 THE LIEUTENANT OFFENDS. 169 
 
 dramming that you and Roger roll up your eyes 
 over." 
 
 " Well, what of it ? " Betty gave a warmer 
 tint to the blonde tresses of the quaintly gowned 
 girl she was painting on an oblong bit of bolting- 
 cloth. 
 
 " Well," rejoined Mrs. Archer with some sharp 
 ness, " I should think it would be a matter of some 
 pleasurable excitement to be admired by a man 
 like that. Most girls would like to talk about it. 
 You 're so queer ; but," in a different tone, " I 
 suppose the reason is Roger. Betty," impressively, 
 " are you sure about Roger ? " 
 
 The girl gave the faintest smile at her work. 
 " Why do you ask that ? " 
 
 Mrs. Archer seemed relieved by the gentle ques 
 tion, and settled back in her chair like one who 
 sees a longed-for opportunity. 
 
 "I have been feeling it my duty for some time 
 to ask you if you were sure that your childish fond 
 ness for Roger was the sort to make it suitable for 
 you to marry him. I have been wondering if you 
 would be led by a mistaken sense of honor in the 
 matter ; if you would feel that your father's wish 
 was binding, and that you must n't disappoint 
 Roger, or something of that kind." 
 
 " I thought you wished me to marry him." 
 
 " I do, if it 's the best thing ; but I do feel that 
 I ought to tell you " Mrs. Archer stirred with 
 some embarrassment " that the Andreas family
 
 170 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 as a family are people of more property and higher 
 position than Roger Gerard." 
 
 Betty slowly turned her head and gave her com 
 panion a long look before returning to her work. 
 
 "You are absurdly unsophisticated, my dear," 
 responded Mrs. Archer to the unspoken reproach. 
 " I beg you not to encourage any false sentiment. 
 I only wish to tell you that you ought not to con 
 sider yourself bound to Roger by any childish ties 
 whatever. You have outgrown those now." 
 
 " Both of us have, then, I suppose." 
 
 " What do you mean ? " 
 
 " I mean that of course he is no more bound 
 than I am." 
 
 Mrs. Archer bristled. " Roger is too much of a 
 gentleman, I hope, to take an initial step in this 
 matter." 
 
 " Yes, he is, bless him ! " The girl spoke with a 
 fervor rarely displayed before her stepmother. 
 " One would almost think he had a claim to con 
 sideration," she added. 
 
 " If you are going to imply that I am lacking 
 in regard for Roger, you are extremely unjust ; on 
 the contrary, I want him to have a wife who loves 
 him, not to marry a girl who is merely used to him." 
 
 And^ this sounded so extremely well that Mrs. 
 Archer said it over a second time with unction. 
 
 " He will." Betty said it softly as she put a 
 rosebud in her young woman's taper fingers. " His 
 wife will love him."
 
 THE LIEUTENANT OFFENDS. 171 
 
 " Then you are sure about him," said Mrs. 
 Archer with a touch of disappointment. 
 
 " I 'm sure about him," answered the girl. 
 
 " Sure about who ? " asked Gerard himself, com 
 ing into the room. 
 
 " Whom, lieutenant?" suggested the artist, just 
 glancing up. " About you, of co'se. Who else 
 should we be talking about ? " 
 
 " Whom, if you please, Miss Archer." Gerard 
 bowed to the other lady, and sat down near the 
 painting-table. 
 
 " Why don't you call me Miss Orcher-Orcher, 
 as your friend Rusty does ? " 
 
 " Because I think you are more sure to come 
 when I call you ' Betty.' Don't you want to come 
 out on your wheel ? I think you stay in the house 
 too much." 
 
 " Indeed she does, Roger. There is really no 
 necessity for her working this spring." 
 
 " And because there is n't," said Betty, " of 
 co'se the orders come pouring in." 
 
 " Why don't you reject them with superb dis 
 dain?" 
 
 " Because I 'm mercenary, I reckon." 
 
 " I '11 tell you why," put in Mrs. Archer, with 
 impatience. " It is because she says that now she 
 can use her money for charity. Those dinner- 
 favors will probably all turn into baby clothes and 
 grape juice." 
 
 " Oh, you make me feel so good," murmured
 
 172 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 Betty ; " just like a little angel with wings spring 
 ing out. If both of you would only not object to 
 minding yo' own affairs." 
 
 " That 's it, Roger," remarked Mrs. Archer ex 
 asperated. " Betty appears to be such a gentle 
 creature. I wish anybody joy who tries to influ 
 ence her." 
 
 " "What 's this ? " exclaimed Gerard suddenly, 
 seizing the pencil sketch of a woman's head. 
 
 Betty glanced up to see what he had, then looked 
 back at her work. " Well, what is it ? " 
 
 " Miss Dexter. Did you do it ? " 
 
 Mrs. Archer came to look curiously over his 
 shoulder. 
 
 " Yes, I did it." 
 
 " Well, that is good," admiringly. " If you can 
 catch likenesses like that, you will be doing some 
 thing beside dinner-favors one of these days." 
 
 " Is n't it pretty ? I 've just had an order for 
 cards with female heads for a men's dinner-party. 
 That will come in very well." 
 
 " What ! You are thinking of using this ? " 
 
 " Copies of it, yes. It will do duty in several 
 ways, blondes and brunettes both." 
 
 " You would allow a likeness of Miss Dexter to 
 go to a man's dinner-table ? " 
 
 " Well, you need n't bite her head off," said Mrs. 
 Archer. " Business is business. If it answers the 
 purpose, why not use it? Who would be the 
 wiser?"
 
 THE LIEUTENANT OFFENDS. 173 
 
 " Would n't you like to be the guest to receive 
 one ? " inquired Betty, apparently unruffled. 
 
 " I could n't accept such a thing, such a great 
 thing." The speaker's agitation was evident. 
 " What right have I ? I am surprised at you for 
 considering such a liberty as this. Even if Miss 
 Dexter should consent in her desire to be of use to 
 you, it should n't be allowed. To think that Tom, 
 Dick, or Harry might have such a resemblance 
 lying on his table for his friends to comment on 
 Why, Betty ! " for utterly without warning the 
 girl's false calm gave way, and burying her face in 
 her hands, she became shaken from head to foot 
 with violent sobs. Her drawing-board rested in her 
 lap, her brush had dropped to the floor, while the 
 festive rose-laden maid on the bolting-cloth doubled 
 up ignominiously. 
 
 " Betty ! " exclaimed Gerard again, desperately, 
 starting to his feet and lifting away the debris of 
 work. 
 
 " There ! I hope you are satisfied, Roger Ge 
 rard," exclaimed Mrs. Archer. " I should like to 
 know who Nathalie Dexter is, that you should 
 scold Betty and hurt her feelings so on her ac 
 count? As if there would be any likeness after 
 Betty had worked it up into a fancy head, as she 
 always does ! Such a tempest in a teapot ! " 
 
 " Hush ! " exclaimed the weeping girl, convul 
 sively waving a protesting hand toward her step 
 mother.
 
 174 MI8S ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 " Here, here 's a handkerchief, dear," said Mrs. 
 Archer, tucking one into Betty's hand, and looking 
 daggers at the miserable lieutenant. Who knew 
 but this unexpected difference might lead to 
 vaguely better things ? " My daughter, Mrs. 
 Andreas." Like a faint, suggestive echo this 
 pleasing phrase sounded upon her inner ear. 
 
 " You had better go right away, Roger," she said 
 fussily; but Betty's hand suddenly flew out and 
 seized Gerard blindly. He took courage then to 
 seat himself close to her, and take the hand in 
 his. 
 
 " I 'm awfully ashamed of myself, dear," he said 
 contritely. 
 
 " You you don't know what I 'm cry 
 ing about," she sobbed. " You are n't to 
 blame!" 
 
 It was what she had always said. In every 
 escapade of his boyhood she had always main 
 tained, whether she proved it or not, that he was 
 not to blame. He remembered this, and a strange 
 tremor seized his heart. He had been deeply, 
 unreasonably stirred just now, and bewilderment 
 and remorse were at work upon him. 
 
 " You dear, forgiving girl ! I was mad to talk 
 to you so. How should you know what I meant, 
 or why I felt such distaste " 
 
 " Now, then, Roger, you are only exciting her ! " 
 Mrs. Archer's sharp voice aided Betty to regain 
 control of herself.
 
 THE LIEUTENANT OFFENDS. 175 
 
 In a minute more she tried to smile on him. 
 " Is n't this ridiculous ? " she said ; then with a 
 sudden movement she leaned forward and picked 
 up the sketch of Nathalie and tore it in two. 
 
 Gerard started uncontrollably. 
 
 " There. Does that please you ? " she asked. 
 
 Mrs. Archer saw the start. She had become 
 lynx-eyed. 
 
 " Perhaps he would rather have kept it safe for 
 you," she suggested sneeringly. 
 
 After Gerard, still quiet and penitent, had taken 
 himself away, Mrs. Archer gazed at the girl with 
 sharply thoughtful eyes. 
 
 " Well," she said at last, " I don't like the looks 
 of things at all. I don't see how you can say you 
 feel sure about Roger." 
 
 The speaker's voice showed her alarm. It did 
 not suit her at all to lose hold on Gerard until 
 she had seen how much that fascinating Mr. An 
 dreas meant by his flattering ways. 
 
 She recalled how the lieutenant had one day 
 been chaffing Russell before the others on the slip 
 pery character of his affections. Roger had said 
 that whenever parents inquired into Rusty's inten 
 tions, it was that young man's habit to state that 
 they were " honorable but remote." 
 
 Mrs. Archer felt very doubtful of him. He 
 thought Betty was a pretty, simple creature, doubt 
 less ; but the more the stepmother reflected, the 
 less probable it seemed that his admiration was
 
 176 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 more than skin-deep. Beside, he probably looked 
 upon Betty as Gerard's intended ; and now was 
 Gerard going to be beguiled from his allegiance 
 by a piano-playing nobody? The state of things 
 was one which required watching.
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 UNDER THE WILLOWS. 
 
 " I AM glad you happened out, Miss Betty," 
 said Mrs. Dexter. " I have just finished this little 
 gown. Is that about the thing ? " 
 
 Mrs. Dexter, sitting under a tree, her work-bas 
 ket beside her, held up the gown by its two tiny 
 sleeves. 
 
 "It is just the thing! How good you are to 
 me!" 
 
 " I don't look at it that way. It seems odd to 
 find a girl as young as you so interested in char 
 itable work. It is only a pleasure to me to help 
 
 you." 
 
 " There is n't anything odd about it if you un 
 derstand," returned Betty, throwing herself down 
 lightly on the grass. " I 've lived here all ma life, 
 and ma father never could deny help to the negroes. 
 He always felt more or less responsibility of them. 
 Of co'se, all his boyhood he saw them looked after, 
 and I feel he 'd like fo' me to do fo' them when 
 they need it. They are such helpless, shiftless 
 creatures." 
 
 "But when you visit Hampton, you feel that 
 that will not always have to be said."
 
 178 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 " Oh, I don't know," returned Betty, with gen 
 tle skepticism. 
 
 " My dear girl ! " 
 
 Betty smiled. "Yo 're a No'therner. Of co'se, 
 yo're enthusiastic. The trouble is I'm a South 
 erner and I know the negroes, and I know facts 
 and the figures that never lie." 
 
 " It is too soon to compile facts and figures," 
 returned Mrs. Dexter, with some warmth. " The 
 chaos of the reactionary stage is n't worked out of 
 yet. Many generations of dependence, not being 
 allowed to stand alone, and being denied education, 
 must be followed by many generations where the 
 reverse course is carried out before there is any 
 justice in forming conclusions." 
 
 The young girl smiled into the earnest face. 
 " And as we shan't be here many generations 
 hence, we can't prove anything, can we ? " 
 
 " No, we can only make baby clothes and hope," 
 returned Mrs. Dexter, folding up the little gown 
 with a sigh. 
 
 Betty leaned on her elbow and began idly to 
 gather the buttercups nearest her. 
 
 " I Ve been wanting to ask you a question," she 
 said at last. The girl had become fond of Mrs. 
 Dexter. She got on with her more unconstrainedly 
 than with Nathalie, and she enjoyed the sunshine 
 of Mrs. Dexter's approval with all her motherless 
 heart. 
 
 " And I want to answer all your questions if I 
 can, my dear."
 
 UNDER THE WILLOWS. 179 
 
 " Such a strange thing has just come to ma 
 knowledge. I know a girl who has a brother she 
 is particularly fond of. She has suddenly come to 
 suspect that he is in love with some one ; and this 
 sister has been wretched about it, really wretched. 
 She cries, and grows warm and cold over it, and 
 and feels that the world is almost slipping away 
 from her. What does that mean ? " 
 
 " Jealousy, of course, poor girl." 
 
 " But how absurd ! Did you ever hear of such 
 a case ? " 
 
 " It is rather extreme. Your friend must be 
 peculiarly dependent upon this brother." 
 
 "She is. She" Betty's throat closed, and 
 she raised herself on her knee to reach for a far 
 away buttercup, her back to Mrs. Dexter. 
 
 The latter picked up another piece of sewing. 
 " It is n't at all unUsual for a sister to suffer greatly 
 when another girl becomes all the world to her 
 favorite brother," she went on, as Betty did not 
 continue. " Of course, it is selfish ; but it is pit 
 iful all the same. I cried for two days when my 
 brother became engaged, and I had to use a great 
 deal of ingenuity to dodge him and not let him 
 suspect me. It seems very funny, as I think of 
 it now ; but then it was no laughing matter." 
 
 " And you got over it ? " Betty returned to her 
 seat at the older woman's feet. 
 
 " Indeed, I was very soon thanking him for my 
 new sister."
 
 180 MJSS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 " But supposing she had n't liked you ? " 
 . " Oh, I would have made her like me," said Mrs. 
 Dexter gayly. " Beside, it is n't half so important 
 whether people like us as we believe it is." 
 
 " Do you think so ? It is tremendously iin- 
 po'tant to me." 
 
 " Then just take on a new thought about it, my 
 clear, and realize that that is the part of the prob 
 lem you have nothing to do with. Your business 
 is to give out kindly thoughts to everybody all the 
 time, and leave the rest." 
 
 " To everybody all the time ! " repeated Betty 
 incredulously. 
 
 " Certainly." 
 
 " But how can one ? There are right many peo 
 ple I don't like at all." 
 
 Mrs. Dexter smiled. " That is because you 
 don't know them." 
 
 " Oh, it 's because I do know them," rejoined 
 the girl quickly. 
 
 " No ; you only know the rubbish that has ac 
 cumulated over them, and that some time they will 
 put off. You must help them by recognizing it as 
 rubbish and no part of them, and when they vex 
 you, keep thinking of the Goodness and Truth that 
 is every instant pouring into their souls and keep 
 ing them alive, and that of course you love." 
 
 Betty looked at the older woman curiously. 
 
 " That 's the queerest talk I ever heard in ma 
 life."
 
 UNDER THE WILLOWS. 181 
 
 " How do you like it ? " asked Mrs. Dexter, not 
 raising her eyes from her work. 
 
 " I reckon I 'm too rubbish-y maself to act up 
 to it," returned Betty slowly. She bit a buttercup 
 stem for a minute in silence. 
 
 " Did you ever talk that way to Mrs. Archer ? " 
 she asked at last, with a curious look out of the 
 tops of her eyes. 
 
 " Once or twice." 
 
 " What did she say ? " 
 
 " She said," Mrs. Dexter bit off her thread while 
 an irrepressible laugh rose to her lips, " she said 
 that some of the best families were talking about 
 such things nowadays." 
 
 Betty threw back her head hilariously. " Just 
 let souls grow fashionable, and Mrs. Archer will 
 have one of the first," she remarked. " We were 
 really speaking of an angel, weren't we? And 
 here she comes," she went on after a pause, in a 
 lowered voice. 
 
 " If there 's so much fun going on anywhere, I 
 should like to be in it, for I 've been reading such 
 a stupid book," said Mrs. Archer, who had come 
 down the flight of steps from her favorite gallery 
 upon hearing Betty laugh, and now joined the 
 others under their tree. " Busy as usual, Mrs. 
 Dexter. I 'm sure it is very lucky for Betty that 
 you have so much time on your hands. I do so 
 much of my own sewing that taking in any for 
 darky babies is out of the question."
 
 182 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 "Rubbish," murmured Betty gently, meeting- 
 Mrs. Dexter's eyes with such an innocent gaze that 
 that lady's gravity was nearly lost. 
 
 " What 's that, Betty ? " sharply. " Did you 
 speak? Have I interrupted anything private? " 
 
 "No, indeed," said Mrs. Dexter. "We were 
 just talking before you came about the importance 
 of loving people enough." 
 
 " Oh ! " Mrs. Archer pronounced the monosyl 
 lable with some disdain. " I fancy that takes care 
 of itself." 
 
 " Christ gave the two great commandments on 
 that subject as if he expected us to need them." 
 
 Mrs. Archer stared. "You're very religious, 
 are n't you, Mrs. Dexter ? But, do you know, I 've 
 always avoided sentimentalism." 
 
 Mrs. Dexter smiled at the abbreviated sleeve 
 she was hemming. " Christ said we were to love, 
 as he has loved us ; and that means not with effu 
 sion and demonstrativeness, but with good works 
 and helpfulness, and above all; right thought. 
 All that requires too vigilant effort to permit of 
 sentimentalism, does n't it ? " 
 
 But Mrs. Archer's attention had wandered. 
 "Where is Miss Nathalie?" she asked suddenly. 
 " I thought she was here with you." 
 
 " She went out with her kodak," answered 
 Betty, beginning to give furtive, anxious glances 
 toward her stepmother's suspicious face. 
 
 "Whereto?"
 
 UNDER THE WILLOWS. 183 
 
 " The fort, I believe," said Mrs. Dexter. 
 
 " But they don't allow kodaks in the fort." 
 
 " Mr. Gerard was kind enough to secure a 
 permit for her," explained Mrs. Dexter. " She 
 promises not to forward her pictures to foreign 
 powers ! " 
 
 Betty's heart beat fast, for her stepmother's 
 face was growing red, and portended a dangerous 
 frankness. To her relief, Miss Toothaker emerged 
 upon the brick walk at the back of the house, and 
 loudly called Mrs. Archer. That lady turned with 
 evident impatience, but after a moment's hesita 
 tion she responded to Miss Priscilla's call and 
 moved away. 
 
 " I think I 'm in that, Mrs. Dexter," said 
 Betty, looking after her. " Just excuse me a 
 minute." 
 
 She moved across the lawn and stood beside her 
 stepmother until the short interview with Miss 
 Toothaker was over ; then she took Mrs. Archer's 
 arm, and conducting her into the latticed walk 
 which led to the dining-room, she opened a door in 
 its further side and gently pushed her through. 
 
 " I must see you a minute alone," she explained. 
 Closing the latticed door behind them, the two 
 were in an unfrequented corner of the grounds, 
 where weeping willows drooped their long tassels 
 to the rich grass. 
 
 Mrs Archer stared at the determined face of 
 her stepdaughter in surprise.
 
 184 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 " What would you have said to Mrs. Dexter 
 about her daughter in a minute more if Miss 
 Toothaker had not called you? " demanded Betty. 
 
 " I don't know," angrily. " If ever there was a 
 bold creature " 
 
 " Don't say it. She is n't bold. She is refined 
 like her mother, a lady through and through. 
 Now, Mrs. Archer, don't you see that you can't 
 control Miss Dexter's movements at all ? Not 
 by any means ? Then what would be gained by 
 hurting her mother's feelings and making them 
 both go away ? " 
 
 Mrs. Archer laughed sarcastically. " They 
 won't go away. You need n't fear. You could n't 
 get Nathalie Dexter away from this place. And 
 you would try to keep her, blind girl that you 
 are!" 
 
 " I 'm not blind." Betty, pale and calm, looked 
 straight into the other's eyes as she spoke. 
 
 " Then if you 're not, you know she is going to 
 steal your lover from you if she can." 
 
 " She cannot do that." 
 
 " You are blind, just as I thought ! " Mrs. 
 Archer stamped her foot on the soft turf. " Rog 
 er's infatuated behavior yesterday exposed him to 
 me. You poor, foolish girl ! I tell you, you have 
 nearly lost him now." 
 
 " Listen. I never had him. Roger never was 
 my lover. No girl could steal him from me." 
 
 " Then you mean you intend to hold him to his
 
 UNDER THE WILLOWS. 185 
 
 word ? Very right, too." Mrs. Archer's voice 
 gained a satisfied ring. " That is what you meant 
 by telling me yesterday you were sure about him." 
 
 " No. I meant what I said. I am sure about 
 him, sure that at last he is in love." 
 
 Mrs. Archer regarded the pale, pure face, admir 
 ingly. " Well, you are a cool hand, Betty. I 
 would n't have believed it of you. You can keep 
 your head steady where most people would lose 
 theirs completely." 
 
 The girl's soft lips parted in a little smile. 
 " I would n't hold him. You can't think that ? 
 Why, I love Roger." 
 
 " Then has Mr. Andreas said anything ? " asked 
 Mrs. Archer eagerly. 
 
 Betty stepped back, and lifted a repulsing hand 
 in an involuntary gesture of displeasure. " No ! " 
 she said ; and brief as the answer was, its austerity 
 warned her companion. 
 
 The latter stood for a moment in doubt, the 
 excited blood mantling in her face. 
 
 " You need n't put on any airs about Miss Dex 
 ter to me," she said at last. " A proud, disagree 
 able, unsocial girl as ever lived ! " 
 
 " I don't find her so. She has come here to 
 rest, and she evidently likes to be by herself. 
 This is a bo'ding-house, remember. She is not 
 our guest." 
 
 " I suppose she has gone off this afternoon to be 
 by herself ! " said Mrs. Archer, with a sneer.
 
 186 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 " I don't know. Perhaps not. Roger is her 
 friend. We are strangers to her." 
 
 " And you will tamely give him up to her ? " 
 
 " That is something we can't talk about, for we 
 don't know that she cares for him." 
 
 "And don't you care for him, you cold-blooded, 
 queer creature ? " 
 
 The girl's sensitive lips contracted, but she felt 
 the futility of an attempt at explanation. 
 
 " I may as well tell you plainly, Betty Archer, 
 that you have n't the right you seem to think you 
 have to throw away a good match. I 've never 
 hurried you about marrying, and have given you a 
 home without a word of objection ; but that can't 
 go on forever. You ought to see that, without 
 making me speak of it ; but you 're just as full of 
 Southern un practicalness as you can hold." 
 
 The girl, in her utter surprise at this onslaught, 
 gazed large-eyed at the speaker in silence. Her 
 long practice in repressing and concealing her own 
 thoughts stood her in good stead now. Instead of 
 yielding to the overwhelming grief of listening to 
 such words in her father's home, all her powers 
 were summoned to aid her in appearing impassive. 
 
 Mrs. Archer, concluding that this silence augured 
 well, decided to consider her speech a Parthian 
 shot, and to leave with flying colors ; which she 
 accordingly did, closing the latticed door behind 
 her with a triumphant slam. 
 
 For some minutes Betty continued to stand in
 
 UNDER THE WILLOWS. 187 
 
 the self-same spot, and to her those minutes were 
 hours. The dear old trees waved gently above 
 her, and the flowering shrubs all about were the 
 same she had seen blossom every springtime of 
 her life ; but a harsh voice had put her away from 
 them, so that all at once she felt an alien in the 
 familiar place. Her first thought, as it had always 
 been in time of trouble, was Roger ; and it was 
 with a sickening sense of loneliness that the reali 
 zation came over her that he, too 
 
 She turned aside against a tree-trunk, and 
 thankful for the solitude of the spot, broke down 
 forlornly, crying her heart out, her soft cheek 
 pressed against the ridges of the rough bark, and 
 long sobs rising from the depths of her being. 
 
 It was difficult to tell which was the proper en 
 trance to the grounds of Edgewater. The fence 
 belonging to the dear old house did not seem to be 
 designed to keep people out. Rather it was an 
 invention to make gates possible, all swinging hos 
 pitably inward to welcome the happy guest. One 
 of these gave ingress at a point which revealed 
 Betty's present retreat ; and Mr. Andreas, return 
 ing from Newport News, happened to choose this 
 one this afternoon. His quick eye saw, and 
 brightened at the sight, the ripple of a blue and 
 white muslin gown, whose owner was nearly con 
 cealed behind the trees. 
 
 Miss Archer's wardrobe was not extensive, but 
 all the same, it was astonishing with what fidelity
 
 188 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 Mr. Andreas's mind retained the general effect of 
 the dresses he had seen her wear. 
 
 His opportunities for conversation with her since 
 he had been staying at Edgewater seemed to him 
 too limited. She was always busy, either painting 
 in some mysterious room where he had not been 
 invited to enter, or else out bicycling with Gerard, 
 or and this was a very unpleasant habit of hers 
 she had taken her little boat before he became 
 aware of her intention, and gone out alone on the 
 waters of the creek. 
 
 He had seen more of Nathalie Dexter, a girl 
 with much more claim to beauty than Miss Archer, 
 a girl unattached, a sensible, responsive girl, with 
 np nonsense about her ; but somehow Mr. An 
 dreas could n't remember the figures on Miss 
 Dexter^ gowns. 
 
 The blue and white ripple aforesaid drew him 
 now like a magnet. Hurrying through the gate, 
 he struck out to the left across the thick turf in its 
 direction. 
 
 Russell's voice was deep and pleasant, as befit 
 ted his big, symmetrical person, and it now gave 
 Betty a decided start, accompanying his noiseless 
 approach. 
 
 "I am going to interrupt this maiden medita 
 tion," he declared ; and the words were scarcely 
 out of his mouth before it was his turn to start, his 
 face expressing such genuine consternation that, 
 had she seen it, she must have smiled through her 
 tears.
 
 UNDER THE WILLOWS. 189 
 
 He snatched his hat off. "I I beg your par 
 don," he exclaimed. " I '11 go go right away. 
 Can I get anybody? Perhaps Roger" He 
 turned to leave, inspired with an idea. 
 
 " No, no ! " she exclaimed thickly. " Wait a 
 minute." 
 
 He did wait, feeling painfully awkward, the 
 slight figure in its attitude of abandon raising 
 something like a lump in his own throat as he 
 stood nervously striking his trousers with his hat, 
 wishing he had stayed at Newport News, and glad 
 he was here close to the blue and white dress, all 
 in the same moment. 
 
 At last he could see that she had dropped the 
 hand that held the handkerchief, though she still 
 leaned against the tree with her face averted from 
 him. 
 
 " I hope nothing very bad has happened, Miss 
 Archer," he ventured. 
 
 " No ; but I don't want you to tell Roger." 
 
 He waited, and as she added nothing, he re 
 turned : " How can I, when I don't know ? " 
 
 " You know that I cried." 
 
 " Oh, that ! I do wish I could do something for 
 you." Russell spoke miserably. The grieved 
 figure pulled at his very heart-strings. 
 
 His voice comforted her somehow. He was 
 the only one of her little coterie in whom the 
 sight of her sorrow would not raise embarrassing 
 questions.
 
 190 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 " You can do something for me if you won't tell 
 any one not any one at all that you saw me 
 cry." 
 
 " I won't, indeed." A pause. " Do you want 
 me to go away ? " 
 
 " No, not especially." 
 
 Russell smiled faintly. " If you even want it a 
 little, I '11 go." 
 
 " I 'm only afraid you '11 see ma face. I know 
 I look funny." 
 
 " I won't look at you," eagerly. " Upon my 
 honor. Let us go over there and sit on that rustic 
 seat a little while. I feel so flattered that you will 
 permit me, and that you don't want Roger." 
 
 " The reason is n't complimentary to you." 
 
 "I dare say not; but you needn't remind me 
 of that." 
 
 " Let me go first, then, and when you come, you 
 must keep looking up." 
 
 Accordingly Miss Archer moved across to the 
 rustic seat, and when she was placed, Mr. Andreas 
 followed, his eyes fixed obediently on the green 
 boughs, and his arms, hat in hand, groping broadly 
 for possible obstacles. 
 
 Betty gave an April smile at his absurd ap 
 proach. 
 
 "Am I warm?" he asked, when he was within 
 a foot of her. 
 
 " Yes, sit down ; and turn yo' cold shoulder to 
 me, remember."
 
 UNDER THE WILLOWS. 191 
 
 " I think it is very hard," he complained, obey 
 ing. 
 
 " You need n't stay, then," she suggested. 
 
 " Oh, I 'm comfortable enough," he returned 
 hastily. " You would n't mind spreading out your 
 dress a little, would you, so I shall know you 're 
 there ? There are no tear-stains on that. Look 
 here, Miss Archer," in a different tone, " I must 
 learn if your weeping had anything to do with 
 my foolish hints the other day over at the post, 
 about Roger and Miss Dexter, you know." 
 
 " N-o. Not exactly." 
 
 " It was that, then ! " with conviction. " You 
 have been thinking about it and making a moun 
 tain out of a mole-hill, and I could kick myself ! 
 I '11 prick that bubble in a minute. I '11 tell you 
 all about it. Don Quixote Gerard will probably 
 pink me, but a man can die but once, and I 'd 
 rather die for you than anybody, anyway. You 
 see" 
 
 " Don't look at me ! " with hasty warning. 
 
 He turned back suddenly. " Up there at the 
 Pulpit, one day " 
 
 " You must n't tell me. It is n't yo' secret." 
 
 " It won't be anybody's, after I 've told you." 
 Andreas half laughed, and turned again toward her. 
 
 She whisked about in her seat. " There ! I '11 
 be the one to look away. Yo' head is on a pivot 
 that turns too easily." 
 
 " So you admit turning my head, do you ? "
 
 192 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 " Mr. Andreas," she asked after a short, thought 
 ful pause, " are you engaged ? " 
 
 " Oh, Miss Archer ! " he returned to her averted 
 cheek. " This is so sudden ! " 
 
 She sighed. " Are you ? " she repeated. 
 
 " I wish I were," he answered, after a significant 
 pause. 
 
 " Oh, excuse me ! " she said hastily. " I only 
 meant I only wanted Mrs. Archer takes such 
 an interest in you, I thought she oh, really, yo' 
 putting it that way makes me feel right imperti 
 nent. You will forgive me, won't you ? " In her 
 agitation she had almost turned her face to him, 
 when she remembered and looked away. 
 
 " Yes. Here 's my hand on it," he answered, 
 with a curious inflection, and for an instant her 
 hand lay in the clasp of his. 
 
 He sighed as she withdrew hers. " Yes, I 'm 
 hard hit," he said. 
 
 "Confess," she returned with gentle archness, 
 "yo're glad I broke the ice, so you will dare to 
 talk to me about her." 
 
 " No use, no use." 
 
 " Why not ? " encouragingly. 
 
 "The old story. She likes another fellow 
 better." 
 
 Betty slowly looked around, forgetfully, directly 
 into his face. Her eyes, plaintive and reddened, 
 stirred Andreas to a tender longing. 
 
 " That is dreadful," she said simply.
 
 UNDER THE WILLOWS. 193 
 
 "Yes," he returned quietly, not to startle her. 
 " I don't want you to suffer so, and that is why 
 you must let me destroy the false idea I gave you 
 the other day." 
 
 " Wait a minute. Let me think if I ought to 
 let you tell me." 
 
 He waited, satisfied to sit and watch her smooth 
 brown hair and the curve of her cheek. At last 
 she looked up at him. 
 
 "Oh, yes!" She gave a grave smile. "My 
 eyes! But never mind. I think I'll hear that 
 story, please." 
 
 " Well, one day up at the Pulpit, Gerard on the 
 rocks turned at the sound of a woman's voice, 
 slipped on the weed, fell, and knocked his knee-cap 
 off. Woman was Miss Dexter. She behaved like 
 Grace Darling, was it ? Some kind f a Dar 
 ling, anyway. Managed to snap the thing back 
 somehow, got him home, and brought the doctor, 
 who said Roger would have been lame always ex 
 cept for what Miss Dexter had done for him." 
 
 " Was n't that fine of her ! " 
 
 " Well, it was a very efficient introduction be 
 tween the two, anyway. Unless you are tired of 
 life, though, don't mention the affair to the heroine 
 of it." 
 
 " Of co'se not. It must have been a very painful 
 experience for her. Then through his convales 
 cence she gave him her beautiful music." 
 
 "Well, unconsciously, yes, she did."
 
 194 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 Betty looked off, and did not speak for so long 
 that curiosity rent her companion as to the nature 
 of her thoughts. 
 
 At last she turned to him again. " It is nearly 
 tea-time, and I must go in," she said. "Mr. An 
 dreas, will you ask me to go to walk with you 
 some time soon ? " 
 
 Russell's very ears reddened with pleasure. 
 " Y-yes," he stammered eagerly. " W-will you go 
 this evening ? There is n't any moon, but " 
 
 " We shan't need a moon," answered Betty, 
 smiling.
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 MISS ARCHER'S CONFIDANT. 
 
 MRS. ARCHER'S irritation of manner at discov 
 ering Nathalie's absence had not been lost on Mrs. 
 Dexter. Ordinarily, she would not have regarded 
 it, considering such an ebullition too absurd to re 
 quire notice ; but little straws continually blowing 
 one way since her return from abroad had at last 
 formed a fixed suspicion in her mind. 
 
 Nathalie, in recovering from the depressed phy 
 sical state in which she had come to Edgewater, 
 had not at the same time recovered her old elastic 
 spirits. The spontaneous light-heartedness that 
 these surroundings would naturally evoke in a 
 girl was lacking. A persistent shyness of Betty 
 Archer was one of the features that roused Mrs. 
 Dexter's mental questionings. 
 
 With the intuition natural to a mother of an 
 only child, she had pieced this and that together 
 into a theory which was more likely to be right 
 than wrong ; and especially was she convinced of 
 its correctness on this afternoon, when Nathalie 
 returned from her kodaking expedition. 
 
 The girl's face showed her fatigue as she entered 
 the room where her mother was, and Mrs. Dexter,
 
 196 AfISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 who had hitherto refrained methodically from open 
 comment, now remarked it. 
 
 " You look tired from your tramp." 
 
 " It is such a long walk around the fort." 
 Nathalie took off her hat and sank into a chair 
 with a frank sigh. 
 
 " Do you think you succeeded ? " 
 
 " I can't be sure. The afternoon light is n't the 
 best for some of the views I wanted." 
 
 " Well, I suppose you could go some morning?" 
 
 " It is hardly worth while to make Mr. Gerard 
 the trouble again." 
 
 " He was with you, I suppose ? " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " I should think he would be thankful to you 
 for giving him something to do." 
 
 " They have enough to do ; and what a pleasant 
 life it is!" 
 
 " Yes, here at this post it certainly is. What 
 did you talk about ? " 
 
 " Oh, kodaks," Nathalie smiled faintly, " and 
 music." 
 
 "I'm afraid Mr. Gerard wasn't very consid 
 erate." 
 
 "Of what?" 
 
 " Of your strength." 
 
 The girl regarded her mother almost compas 
 sionately. "How little you know him!" she re 
 turned. 
 
 " Explain yourself," said the mother lightly ; 
 but she regarded her daughter closely.
 
 MISS ARCHER'S CONFIDANT. 197 
 
 " He is the most thoughtful man I ever knew." 
 
 " Happy Betty ! " remarked Mrs. Dexter. 
 
 " Well, you knew she was happy, did n't you ? " 
 
 The two continued to look at each other a few 
 seconds in silence. 
 
 " A strange thing has come into my mind to-day, 
 Nathalie," said Mrs. Dexter at last. " I think 
 Mrs. Archer is a little jealous of you." 
 
 "I shouldn't wonder," returned the girl equa 
 bly. " She is capable of any absurdity." 
 
 " It is absurd, is n't it ? " 
 
 " You brought me up yourself, mother." 
 
 " I know, I know," hastily. " I did n't really 
 require reassurance so far as you are concerned." 
 
 " I should think not." The girl's tone was a 
 little bitter. " And if you had doubted me, you 
 could n't have doubted him." 
 
 " I don't know Mr. Gerard so well as you do. 
 He seems to have won your confidence thoroughly." 
 
 The girl did not reply. 
 
 " Nathalie dear," Mrs. Dexter spoke gently after 
 a moment that had been long to them both. " I 
 think the time has come for us to go away." 
 
 " Because Mrs. Archer is jealous of me ? " 
 
 " That would be reason enough, since your health 
 is quite recovered." 
 
 " But I have a strong reason for staying," re 
 turned the girl slowly, and the color receded from 
 her face as she looked steadily into her mother's 
 eyes, " a reason which swallows up Mrs. Archer's 
 whims."
 
 198 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 Mrs. Dexter felt dismayed at the strength of 
 purpose in the young face. 
 
 " A reason connected with Mr. Gerard ? " 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 " My child ! What do you mean ? " 
 
 " If you knew him, you could guess." 
 
 The mother's heart fluttered. 
 
 " Why did you let me bring you here ? " she 
 exclaimed. 
 
 " I tried not to come." 
 
 " Yes, you did. dear. But you were not frank 
 enough. How could I know ? " 
 
 " I did n't even know myself, mother. I only 
 feared, vaguely." 
 
 They had been sitting apart ; but now they 
 clung together in a close embrace. 
 
 Nathalie's heart smote her as she felt her 
 mother's tremulous arms. There was something 
 wild in Mrs. Dexter's soft tone as she suddenly 
 lifted herself erect. " But why not go at once ? " 
 
 " A week ago I should have consented gladly ; 
 but now it is too late." The voice, sounding so 
 suddenly mature, increased the older woman's 
 agitation. 
 
 " What can you mean ? " she exclaimed, panic- 
 stricken. " We are not thieves ! " 
 
 Nathalie smiled again, and shook her head. 
 " Poor little mother, you don't know him," she 
 said. " No ; I have thought it all out at last. 
 After the tangle and the fever my thoughts have
 
 MISS ARCHER'S CONFIDANT. 199 
 
 been in so long, I see the way at last. If I should 
 go away now, it seems to me I should suffer all my 
 life. I must stay here and live it down. I must 
 grow well acquainted with Betty. I must give 
 him to her. I must see them together. When I 
 think of him, I must think of her too. I must be 
 happy in it. It is my only chance." 
 
 " But," faltered Mrs. Dexter, " how about him ? 
 I have imagined sometimes and thoughts are so 
 strong, he may feel yours, and you are a charm 
 ing girl " She stopped, breathless with painful 
 feeling. . 
 
 " Mother, do you remember Sir Galahad ? You 
 remember, his 
 
 ' strength was as the strength of ten, 
 Because his heart was pure.' 
 
 Those are the lines always running through my 
 mind. I cannot hurt him. I would not hurt him. 
 But if I leave him now, I shall mourn for him, 
 I shall long for him," the steady voice suddenly 
 broke in a sort of sob, " I think I should die for 
 him." 
 
 " Oh, darling, darling ! " protested the mother. 
 
 ' He who fights and runs away ' " 
 
 " No ; trust me. Give me a fortnight. It is 
 for my life. Then if I have not made progress, I 
 will be honest with you and I will go." 
 
 The girl looked at her mother with eyes that 
 seemed to see far beyond her. She went on in a 
 hushed tone.
 
 200 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 " I suppose I cannot comfort you for this. I 
 cannot make you believe how far rather I would 
 have known him and loved him than to have been 
 safe and calm and happy in ignorance of him." 
 
 Mrs. Dexter had regained her self-control. 
 "Yes, I do believe it," she answered, "but it is 
 an affliction that has come to us all the same. 
 Pray that you may not steal from Betty, even in 
 thought ; and if I were in your place, while I 
 prayed to be delivered from temptation, I should 
 help Heaven by taking the train away from this 
 beguiling Eden." 
 
 " It has been anything but an Eden to me ! " 
 exclaimed Nathalie. "The steed is stolen now, 
 mother. It is no use to lock the door. Let me 
 try what seems to me the only hope." 
 
 " God bless and help you, then, dear." 
 
 When the family met at tea, Betty's face was 
 flushed from her interview under the willows, and 
 Russell Andreas talked fast to draw the attention 
 of the company upon himself. 
 
 To Nathalie, grown sensitive, it seemed that per 
 haps Betty's preoccupation might result from the 
 fact of her own excursion with Gerard. It was 
 more than probable that Mrs. Archer had been say 
 ing waspish things. Miss Dexter was well enough 
 aware of her own ungracious habit toward the sweet 
 Southern girl, and felt in haste to do away with 
 the impression in that new programme which she 
 had laid out for herself.
 
 MISS ARCHER'S CONFIDANT. 201 
 
 But her self-command was shaken. She could 
 not at once react from the breaking down of all 
 reserves of the last hour, and she answered Russell 
 almost in monosyllables when he appealed to her 
 in the course of conversation. 
 
 " She could n't be any more grouchy if she knew 
 what I had been telling you," he murmured to 
 Betty, as they followed Miss Dexter up the steps 
 of the gallery after tea. 
 
 " I think she is n't feeling well," returned Betty. 
 " I 'm afraid Roger made you walk too far," she 
 said, approaching Nathalie and taking a chair be 
 side her. " You look tired." 
 
 The kindness of her tone caused Nathalie to turn 
 gratefully toward her. 
 
 " One always walks so much farther than one 
 realizes when tempted on by a kodak, don't you think 
 so ? " and the responsiveness of manner thrown into 
 the commonplace rejoinder made Betty wonder. 
 She little suspected that Miss Dexter had thawed 
 toward her once and for all in the sunshine of 
 what she was striving to make an unselfish love. 
 
 " I shall have a fine panorama, though, of For 
 tress Monroe," Nathalie went on, " and I think I 
 secured some very good pictures of Mr. Gerard 
 which you will like to have. I will give you the 
 films, too, so you can have as many printed as you 
 like. Perhaps you will think it worth while to 
 have one enlarged. After all, provided it is a for 
 tunate picture, there is no likeness so correct as
 
 202 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 what one catches with the kodak. Don't you think 
 that is true, Mr. Andreas ? " 
 
 Russell did think so, quite eagerly; and the 
 three young people talked the subject threadbare 
 in the desire of each to respond to the cordiality of 
 the other. 
 
 Gerard found them thus when he looked in for 
 his evening visit. He pressed Betty's hand as he 
 sat down beside her, for he still felt sore over that 
 late altercation concerning the sketch of Nathalie, 
 and thought that she might feel so too. 
 
 " Are we going to have any music ? " he asked 
 at last, turning radiant, questioning eyes toward 
 Miss Dexter. 
 
 " No, no," interposed Betty. " You tired Miss 
 Nathalie out this afternoon. I 'm sure she does n't 
 feel like playing. It is too much to ask." 
 
 " Playing does n't tire me," said Nathalie unde 
 cidedly. The new humility of her manner struck 
 Miss Archer afresh. 
 
 " I don't believe you have practiced much to-day," 
 suggested Gerard. 
 
 " I have not, indeed." 
 
 " That 's right," said Andreas audaciously. " You 
 play to Gerard, Miss Nathalie, while Miss Archer 
 Archer takes me to walk." 
 
 Instead of laughingly resenting this slight as she 
 would have done yesterday, Nathalie looked from 
 one to the other in hesitating silence. 
 
 " How impertinent you are ! " exclaimed Betty,
 
 MISS ARCHER'S CONFIDANT. 203 
 
 vexed with Andreas for thus clumsily carrying out 
 her wish. 
 
 " Well, if you are going to play Sousa or Strauss, 
 I want to stay, Miss Dexter ; but you know I 'in 
 awfully earthy. You don't want to cast pearls of 
 melody before me, do you ? " 
 
 " Oh, take him away, Betty," said Gerard, smil 
 ing at the plaintive voice in which Russell knew so 
 well how to make his humility effective. 
 
 " Very well, Miss Dexter," said the girl, rising, 
 " but remember you owe me compensation for this. 
 I decline to admit that ma musical ear is that 
 material which is unsuitable for silk purses ! " 
 
 Nathalie watched them go down the steps with a 
 thoughtful face. " What a sweet, lovely, unselfish 
 girl Miss Archer is ! " she said deliberately. " My 
 admiration for her is growing beyond bounds." 
 
 " You are entirely right," replied the lieutenant, 
 " but I did n't know you had discovered so much. 
 To tell the truth, Betty does n't consider herself 
 a favorite with you." 
 
 " I think I have been slow in waking up to her. 
 She is the sort of girl who can be imposed upon. 
 I fear she is being imposed upon now. She has 
 not seen you all day." 
 
 " Oh, they will be back soon. Meanwhile, if 
 you are not too tired Did I let you get too tired 
 to-day?" Something fluttered in Nathalie's breast 
 at his tone. 
 
 " No, not at all," she answered brusquely, as she 
 rose. " Certainly, I will play."
 
 204 MISS ARCHES ARCHER. 
 
 And very miserable she was, sitting there at the 
 piano, her trained fingers running crisply over the 
 keys, while Gerard sat close at her elbow ; for her 
 mother passed through the room more than once, 
 and Nathalie knew she could not help misreading 
 the situation. 
 
 Meanwhile, Betty was strolling under the fes 
 tooned lace of the locust-trees and reproaching her 
 tall cavalier. 
 
 " Well, what was the use of beating about the 
 bush?" he argued mildly. "Miss Dexter is 
 wrapped in the spirit of her music the minute 
 she gets into it, and Roger is up in a balloon with 
 her. You wanted to speak to me, and er I 
 wanted to have you, so here we are ; and we 're 
 all happy, are n't we ? " The strong curves of the 
 speaker's mouth, the very set of his head on his 
 shoulders, betokened his own satisfaction. Betty's 
 hand lay lightly on his arm, for it was a clouded, 
 soft, dark evening. 
 
 " Yes," returned Betty, after a little silence ; 
 " Roger is satisfied now, but I 'm expecting every 
 day that his satisfaction will change to anxiety." 
 
 " I 've been studying you and Gerard ever since 
 I came here," returned Andreas, " and if you think 
 that is impertinence, I shall defend myself. People 
 always have a right to try to guess enigmas, and it 
 seems in this case to the interested spectator as if 
 you two tried to be enigmatical. That last speech 
 of yours, now ! What is an unsophisticated indi-
 
 MISS ARCHERS CONFIDANT. 205 
 
 vidual, traveling in the interests of the insurance 
 business, to understand by it ? " 
 
 " We 're not the least enigmatical. I came out 
 on purpose to explain the situation to you, because 
 I reckon you can help us." 
 
 And Betty proceeded to tell the story of her own 
 and Gerard's childhood and youth. 
 
 " Then you are not absolutely engaged ? " said 
 Andreas as she paused ; and there was a tone in 
 his voice that assured his companion that her nar 
 rative had not fallen upon indifferent ears. 
 
 " We always expected to be married until 
 until now." 
 
 " And why not now ? I suppose you permit me 
 to ask leading questions." 
 
 " Yes ; but I wonder if you do not see why." 
 
 " Upon my soul I don't. I 'm sorry to be 
 dense." 
 
 " Well, perhaps it is rather too much to expect 
 you to discover it before Roger does. He looks 
 forward to our marriage still." 
 
 Andreas's face took on a startled expression 
 there in the darkness. " Miss Archer, you are n't 
 going to give me the task of breaking some over 
 whelming news to Gerard?" 
 
 " No," returned the girl quietly. " I 'm not the 
 one whose feelings change the plan." 
 
 " Then you believe that Roger " 
 
 " Yes, I 'm sure that Roger " 
 
 " Oh, impossible ! Why, there is n't anybody ! "
 
 206 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 excitedly. " I know all about his affairs. I 've 
 been around with him over at the post. I've 
 heard him discuss people." 
 
 " Oh, nearer home, nearer home," sighed Betty, 
 smiling at the impetuous tone. 
 
 " What ? Miss Dexter ? Miss Archer, I shall 
 never forgive myself. All this arises from my 
 nonsense. It has given you days of unhappiness. 
 It has been a deep wrong to Roger. I 'm simply 
 no end ashamed. Do let me assure you " 
 
 " Hush ! Wait. Your stor^ merely threw 
 some light on the subject. I'm sure about this 
 affair, Mr. Andreas, and it is nobody's, nobody's 
 fault. I suppose you think it right strange that I 
 talk to you about it," she added after a silence, 
 " but I 'm a very lonely girl." 
 
 Russell feared she would feel the unsteadiness 
 of the arm on which her hand lay. 
 
 " You honor me," he answered quickly. " I 
 thank you." 
 
 " Since you know Roger so well, you can under 
 stand how unwilling he will be to seek his own 
 happiness. His loyalty and unselfishness will 
 make his feeling for Miss Dexter misery to him 
 when he wakes up to it. Another trouble is that 
 Mrs. Archer will not want to let him off, and- 
 I'm so helpless to influence her, or control her 
 speech ! " 
 
 As she spoke, there came over poor Betty the 
 remembrance of her stepmother's heartless tirade
 
 MISS ARCHER'S CONFIDANT. 207 
 
 to herself during the afternoon, and a hunted sen 
 sation oppressed her. 
 
 " There is no one no one I can appeal to," she 
 said piteously. " Dear Mrs. Dexter is so good to 
 me, but about this I must be silent to her. I must 
 think for Roger, and help him to resist both Mrs. 
 Archer and himself ; and you being his best 
 friend, you see why I turn to you." 
 
 " I was never thoroughly convinced before that 
 my life was worth living," said Andreas, deeply 
 moved. 
 
 " Ah ! You have yo' own troubles ! " returned 
 the girl gently. " How I wish I could help you ! " 
 
 Andreas was silent. To him she seemed an 
 angel. He was longing to speak further, but felt 
 tongue-tied. He did not doubt (because he wished 
 so much that he might) that she loved Roger ; and 
 a new awe and timidity changed this assured man 
 who had become a lover, beyond his own recogni 
 tion. 
 
 " It is very fortunate fo' me," she went on, with 
 evident diffidence, " that you told me what you did 
 this afternoon. You implied that you were in 
 love." 
 
 " God knows I am." 
 
 " You did n't know how much you did fo' me, 
 Mr. Andreas, by confessing it. It makes it possi 
 ble fo' me to mention to you a most embarrassing 
 feature of this situation." 
 
 The breeze, odorous with the breath of the lo 
 cust, cooled the girl's hot cheeks.
 
 208 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 " This is dreadful," she went on hurriedly, " but 
 I don't dare to have you not understand." 
 
 " Tell me all you will," said Andreas earnestly. 
 " Your least word shall be sacred to me." 
 
 " You are so kind ! Well, you have seen a good 
 deal of Mrs. Archer. You have formed an opin 
 ion of her, perhaps." 
 
 " A worldly, ambitious woman. You pardon 
 me ? This is a time for absolute frankness, as 
 I understand it." 
 
 " It is. You see how she values you. You rep 
 resent to her all she cares fo' most. Well," a 
 strained pause, " it is very hard to say it, but if 
 you cared fo' me, and I would return your feeling, 
 she would let poor Roger go. She has had the 
 cruelty to declare it." 
 
 Their pace grew slower in the girl's agitated 
 speech, and here they paused ; her hand dropped 
 from Andreas's arm, and they faced each other. 
 " You see," she hastened on, " what will be likely 
 to come when she knows that I have determined 
 on giving Roger up. You have saved me untold 
 humiliation. She would stop at nothing. She 
 would try to win you. I should be driven to run 
 away, or to throw myself in the water, only that 
 you have given me a weapon. I can now tell her 
 plainly that which will render even her helpless. 
 I shall tell her : ' Mr. Andreas loves some one ! ' 
 
 But here vague fears of her future which she 
 could not hint to him, suddenly pressing upon the
 
 MISS ARCHER'S CONFIDANT. 209 
 
 speaker, her forced courage gave way, and her 
 voice went with it. With a quick motion she hid 
 her face in her hands. 
 
 Andreas shivered through all his big frame in 
 the longing that seized him to gather her in his 
 arms ; but his love had leaped to a strength which 
 enabled him not to touch her. 
 
 " Yes, she cannot hurt you in that way now," he 
 answered ; and his voice sounded cold to his own 
 ears. 
 
 The girl's brief spasm of feeling passed, and she 
 looked up at him again. 
 
 " It is an unspeakable relief to have talked this 
 out with you," she said. " To-morrow I shall 
 wonder how I dared ; but it is done." 
 
 " And well done. No woman ever had a more 
 obedient ally than I will be to you." 
 
 They strolled on for another half-hour, and 
 Betty gave him the points on which she wished 
 him to dwell in his interviews with Gerard which 
 were pretty certain to ensue. Among these points 
 she of course emphasized the fact that the affec 
 tion between them had never been other than of a 
 fraternal nature, a bit of information which 
 Russell accepted without in the least believing it, 
 so far as she was concerned. 
 
 "You see," she remarked at last, when they 
 were nearing home, " it will be so difficult to con 
 vince Roger that I 'm not so lonely as to need him. 
 Ma unsupported word will not do. I want you to
 
 210 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 repeat to him that I say I 'm so much attached to 
 art that marriage would be a questionable good fo' 
 me, anyway. He knows how many times I 've put 
 off the consideration of our wedding." 
 
 Hardly were these words spoken when the two 
 came into the light of the main entrance to Edge- 
 water. There they suddenly encountered Gerard 
 himself. He paused with some disconnected 
 phrases, and his face was white in the artificial 
 brightness. 
 
 " You look like a sleep-walker, man," said An 
 dreas, forcing a jocose manner. " I suppose you 
 are still following in spirit the erratic wanderings 
 of Somebody-owski." 
 
 " It was very beautiful. I hope you 've been 
 yes, enjoyed yourselves. Good-night." 
 
 Russell and Betty looked at each other in silence 
 for a minute after he had hurried away to catch an 
 alleged car, whose approach was not yet audible to 
 the ordinary ear. 
 
 Andreas was puzzled. " Why, he seemed dis 
 tracted ! Do you think he was offended by our 
 staying so long?" he asked. 
 
 " Ho," returned the girl quietly. " Did n't you 
 see? The time has come. He has waked up. 
 Poor Roger ! Oh, Mr. Andreas," her voice 
 suddenly broke, and she stretched out her hand, 
 " you will help me ? " 
 
 He took the hand, and after a second's hesitation 
 bowed his head and kissed it. " I am yours," he 
 answered.
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 A BICYCLE RIDE. 
 
 NATHALIE hastened to her room to find her 
 mother after Gerard had left that evening. 
 
 " Don't distrust me, mother ! Don't be anxious ! " 
 she exclaimed. "It just happened that we were 
 left alone. It was Mr. Andreas's fault. He took 
 Betty away." 
 
 Mrs. Dexter's thick gray hair was hanging long 
 about her shoulders as she sat before her dressing- 
 table preparing for bed. 
 
 " I see you playing with fire, and you ask me 
 not to be anxious," she said sadly. 
 
 " I thought I had explained it all to you, and 
 that you had agreed to give me two weeks." 
 
 Mother and child looked at each other. The 
 girl's eyes were luminous from the excitement of 
 the evening's music and talk. 
 
 " But is there no danger to him in all this ? " 
 
 " Such a thought is surely needless misery," 
 returned Nathalie. " That attachment has grown 
 with his growth, and is a part of his very soul." 
 She regarded her mother for half a minute in des 
 perate silence. " This is something we can't dis 
 cuss more," she said at last. " Neither can I bear,
 
 212 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 in addition to everything else, the feeling that you 
 are disapproving of me. Either trust me and let 
 me see if I can win peace, or let us go away to 
 morrow." 
 
 Mrs. Dexter's heart sank at facing the alterna 
 tive. 
 
 " But if you are worse off in two weeks, what 
 then?" 
 
 " I shall not be. I am not the first who has been 
 forced to love against her will. I can live it down 
 if only," she hesitated, " if only I can have a 
 little time to regard them in this new light." 
 
 " But if he should be drawn to you ? Forgive 
 me, dear. I am your mother, and it seems a 
 danger." 
 
 " He ! You don't know him. He is like a 
 knight of old. That is impossible." 
 
 " Then take your fortnight." Mrs. Dexter sighed 
 as she turned back to her mirror. 
 
 If Betty's surmise was correct, and Gerard had 
 awakened to a change of heart, the^ question to 
 solve next was if Miss Dexter guessed it. Obser 
 vation less acute than Miss Archer's would have 
 noticed the alteration that a day had brought forth 
 in Nathalie's manner toward herself. 
 
 " Did you ever see a cat who was planning to 
 steal cream ? " asked Mrs. Archer of her daughter 
 at the first opportunity. " That 's Miss Nathalie 
 Dexter ! She can't come around me with any of 
 her palaver. I 've cut both my eye-teeth."
 
 A BICYCLE RIDE. 213 
 
 " Miss Dexter strikes me as one of the most 
 honest girls I ever met," replied Betty. " She 
 seems to like me better lately." 
 
 " How lately ? From about the time she spent 
 the afternoon with Roger at the post, is n't it ? 
 Oh, that girl is deep. But she won't make any 
 thing. I 'm on the lookout." 
 
 Betty was painting, and her heart was full of 
 her problem and apprehension of her stepmother's 
 actions. But the dove had attained some of the 
 serpent's subtlety. 
 
 " I hope you are n't going to say or do anything 
 to spoil our pleasure just as Mr. Andreas is going 
 to have a little more time to himself," she said 
 innocently. 
 
 The magic name showed its checking effect on 
 the angry woman at once. "Mr. Andreas," she 
 repeated. " Has he anything to do with the case ? 
 I noticed you went to walk with him last evening 
 leaving the cat with the cream!" she finished 
 spitefully. 
 
 " Yes ; there are just four of us now, and of 
 course, if you choose to make it disagreeable, Miss 
 Dexter will go away " 
 
 " And I tell you, you could n't hire her to go 
 away." 
 
 " What is to prevent her going to the Hygeia, 
 especially if yo' suspicions are correct ? " 
 
 For once Mrs. Archer was silenced. She had 
 not thought of this obvious move which would give
 
 214 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 Nathalie unrivaled opportunities for pursuing her 
 nefarious operations secure from criticism. 
 
 " Of course, it 's much pleasanter fo' Koger and 
 Mr. Andreas to have both of us here." 
 
 Mrs. Archer fanned herself violently, and indeed 
 her face looked as if she needed cooling. 
 
 "Very well; but I shall watch. After your 
 mad declaration of an intention to hand Roger 
 over to the first rival who wants him, I naturally 
 feel a duty in the matter. I give you fair warn 
 ing, Betty, I expect you to marry this year. It 
 will be your own fault if you don't." 
 
 Betty began to hum a popular cockney song as 
 she bent over her work : 
 
 " ' If you dies an old maid, 
 
 You have only yourself to blame! ' 5: 
 
 This levity grated upon Mrs. Archer. "You 
 are n't in a position where you have a right to play 
 fast and loose," she went on. " As I say, I don't 
 insist upon coercing your affections." When the 
 speaker assumed this tone of lofty virtue, her step 
 daughter was always seized with a wild desire to 
 laugh. "If you find that Mr. Andreas is more 
 suited to you than your childhood's comrade, I shall 
 stand right by you, Betty, never fear." 
 
 " And the cat can have the cream, I suppose," 
 remarked the girl, with a demure composure so 
 provoking that Mrs. Archer looked at her with a 
 return of exasperation.
 
 A BICYCLE RIDE. 215 
 
 " When you are as old as I am, you will find 
 that life is n't such a good joke as you think it is," 
 and she flounced out of the room. 
 
 Betty wondered if she were very cowardly thus 
 to use Mr. Andreas as a bait instead of frankly 
 avowing at once that he was out of the question. 
 And as she wondered, a little perplexed line came 
 in her forehead, and moisture in her eyes blurred 
 the violet empire gown in which her painted girl 
 was aesthetically arrayed ; for Betty was not find 
 ing life a very good joke. 
 
 "May I come in?" asked Nathalie, suddenly 
 darkening the window. The artist winked away 
 her tears and glanced up with a cordial nod. " If 
 you are sure it won't annoy you to let me watch 
 you paint a little while. I do enjoy it so much." 
 
 " Then come ; and you will have to let me watch 
 you play in return." 
 
 "Very gladly." Nathalie came in and took a 
 chair by the painting-table. "The weeks down 
 here have flown away, and I have n't become nearly 
 well enough acquainted with you. I 'm just wak 
 ing up to what I have missed. You have cap 
 tured my mother's heart, as I suppose you know, 
 and I 'm not going to slight my privileges any 
 longer." 
 
 This would have been a paralyzing speech from 
 the cold Miss Dexter of a week ago. It was suf 
 ficiently astonishing now. Betty seemed to see the 
 apparition of Roger's pale and abstracted look last
 
 216 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 evening, as he was caught off his guard in the 
 sudden light. 
 
 " The cat and the cream." She wondered how 
 Gerard would enjoy that simile. " Well, does n't 
 the cream of a class rise to the top, and did n't 
 Roger graduate nearly at the head of his ? " Fan 
 tastic thoughts raced through the girl's mind be 
 fore she looked up at her companion. 
 
 What honest, earnest eyes were regarding her ! 
 There was nothing feline in their expression. Had 
 they read Roger's soul? Betty wondered. She 
 would have been more than human if nothing of 
 resentment and suspicion had risen in her now to be 
 conquered. For conquered they must be. If it 
 was a part of Nathalie's plan to win Betty Archer's 
 friendship, it was none the less Betty's design to 
 meet her more than halfway in every overture. 
 
 " I was a misanthrope when I came here," went 
 on Nathalie when her companion had responded, 
 "but Edgewater must be a specific for misan 
 thropy, and all unworthy feelings. Whether I was 
 looking at the humming-birds, or picking roses, or 
 watching the magnolia buds swell, or sitting out in 
 the pavilion, reading, I used to be conscious all the 
 time that it was quite an undertaking to live up to 
 Edgewater." 
 
 " I never thought of the place in the light of a 
 sermon." 
 
 "Perhaps you were never so tired and bad as 
 I was when I came. You know the enemy does
 
 A BICYCLE RIDE. 217 
 
 steal a march on you when you are tired. But in 
 this nest I have recovered ray balance. Did you 
 ever think how odd it is that such a peaceful spot 
 should be so surrounded with the discipline of mili 
 tary life? I heard taps four times last evening, 
 the air grew so very still." 
 
 Betty smiled. "Fortress Monroe, the war 
 ships, the Soldiers' Home, and Hampton. Yes, I 
 was brought up on martial calls of one kind and 
 another. Speaking of the military, didn't Koger 
 hurry away rather early last evening? Mr. An 
 dreas and I didn't realize that we stayed out so 
 very long." 
 
 " Perhaps he left in dread of a musical indiges 
 tion," replied Nathalie. " I fear we playing-folk 
 are more difficult to stop than we are to start. I 
 was telling him the musical story of the Lenore 
 Symphony as Raff gives it. I played snatches of 
 it as well as I could, and filled in the rest with 
 description. You know it is a very moving, excit 
 ing thing " 
 
 "No, no, I don't. Poor Roger will have a 
 famine when you are gone." 
 
 " He will need the rest, probably ; but how ap 
 preciative he is ! When I played him the love 
 motive, and showed him how it was intertwined 
 with the danger and pain that come afterward, he 
 really did n't seem able to bear any more. He got 
 up and walked about, and at last left, asking me 
 to finish next time."
 
 218 if 188 ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 Color crept slowly up into Betty's cheeks as she 
 nodded without lifting her eyes from her work. 
 
 " I 'm not sure," went on Nathalie frankly, " but 
 that I bored him a little, I was so carried away by 
 the subject ; but he will forgive me when he hears 
 the Symphony performed by a good orchestra. 
 Won't you, Mr. Gerard?" she added, smiling, for 
 here the lieutenant came into the room. 
 
 " Yes. What is it ? " he responded, and Betty 
 looked him a scrutinizing welcome. 
 
 The brightness of his expression and the fresh 
 ness of his military toilet could not cover the fa 
 tigue that showed about his eyes. Anxiety, added 
 to sleeplessness, had left those traces. 
 
 " Did you dream of the horse that galloped by 
 night?" asked Nathalie. 
 
 " Why don't you ask him plainly if he had the 
 nightmare ? " suggested Betty. 
 
 " I did n't dare to go to sleep at all, for fear I 
 should dream of skeletons and an open grave wait 
 ing to engulf true love," answered Gerard. " Well, 
 Betty, how does it go this morning ? Make the 
 most of your time, for you must go out on the 
 wheel with me soon." 
 
 " Very well. You and Miss Nathalie go down 
 to the pavilion and wait for me. I '11 call for you 
 when I 'm ready." 
 
 " Oh, but you said I might watch you ! " 
 
 " Oh, I want to watch you ! " came from the two 
 with such hasty unanimity that Betty smiled at 
 her violet girl.
 
 A BICYCLE RIDE. 219 
 
 " Poor things ! How scared they are ! " she 
 thought. 
 
 At this moment Russell Andreas presented 
 himself at the open window and looked at the 
 group. 
 
 " Well ! " he ejaculated aggrievedly. " Gibson 
 ought to sketch us in one of his conundrum groups, 
 with the legend : ' Find the man who is out of it ! ' 
 I don't want to be hypercritical, but it does seem 
 to me, Miss Archer Archer, that typical Southern 
 hospitality must be dying out." 
 
 " Oh, I suppose you can come in." 
 
 "I suppose I can, too the window-sill is 
 rather low ; but I suppose I won't unless I 'm suf 
 ficiently urged. Leaving guests to themselves and 
 not hampering them with attentions is all very 
 well ; but when it comes to chilling neglect " 
 
 "How can I work with you all bothering?" pro 
 tested the artist. 
 
 "You don't call that work, do you?" asked 
 Andreas, seating himself on the window-sill and 
 lowering his head to obtain a view of the bolting- 
 cloth girl. 
 
 " That 's nice ! I can't see a thing ! " ejaculated 
 Betty, gazing up into a face that women found 
 good to look at. 
 
 " Then, naturally, ask me in," he suggested, 
 smiling at her. " I should think you might see 
 how uncomfortable I am, doubled up here like a 
 jackknife, all for the sake of worshiping art. I
 
 220 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 adore art. As a lady once said to me : ' Good pic 
 tures or bad pictures, pictures I must have ! ' ' 
 
 " Oh, do get out of ma light and come in ! " 
 smiled Betty. " But just remember I don't always 
 allow visitors ; so not even yd 1 assurance will al 
 ways answer. This morning I happen to feel good- 
 natured." 
 
 " My lucky star again," remarked Andreas, 
 steering his long legs carefully past the painting- 
 table. 
 
 But Gerard, gravely persistent, continued to 
 urge upon Betty a flight into the open air, and at 
 last he carried his point. 
 
 As they were returning from their bicycle ride, 
 he began suggesting plans for the afternoon. 
 
 " You will come over to parade, won't you ? " he 
 asked. 
 
 " Oh, yes, I think so. If Miss Dexter likes to 
 come." 
 
 " Since when do your plans depend on her ? " 
 
 " Since quite lately. I see now that she was n't 
 well when she came here. But she is herself again, 
 and herself is charming. Yo' prophecy is fulfilled. 
 I see that she is a woman's woman." 
 
 " Well, she is at home here now. You need not 
 consult her about coming to parade. I dare say 
 Rusty will want to come over." 
 
 " Of course. Probably we all three shall come. 
 I think we make a very agreeable quartette, don't 
 you?"
 
 A BICYCLE RIDE. 221 
 
 As she asked it, Betty stepped lightly down from 
 her wheel, for they had reached Edgewater. She 
 looked pretty in her trim bicycle dress, as she stood 
 waiting for his answer to her gay question. 
 
 " Yes, I think we do," he answered, also alight 
 ing, and drawing his steel steed close beside her. 
 " Although Rusty always shows a propensity to 
 appropriate you whenever we four happen to be 
 together." 
 
 " And that makes you jealous?" asked the girl, 
 laughing a little, although his haggard face touched 
 her deeply. 
 
 " I should hope it would," he answered with 
 gravity. 
 
 " Nonsense ! They always separate brother and 
 sister at every social entertainment." 
 
 " And husband and wife," he answered seri 
 ously. " I wish you would marry me soon, Betty. 
 Don't put me off. I am very much in earnest. 
 What possible reason is there for waiting any 
 longer ? " 
 
 " Dear Roger." The girl's little gauntleted 
 hand stole into his. " I love you better than ever, 
 if possible, but I 'm not going to marry you 
 ever." 
 
 She could see his lips grow pale. " Why not ? 
 I refuse to give you up." 
 
 " I 've thought it all out, Roger. You know I 
 told you I was going to ; and I 've decided irre 
 vocably."
 
 222 MfSS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 He leaned on his wheel. " How have I lacked 
 to that extent? " he asked, regarding her with such 
 obvious wretchedness that she had need to be very 
 clear-sighted not to be deceived. 
 
 " I 've lacked just as much- as you have. It is n't 
 our fault that we care for each other only as brother 
 and sister, is it? There is no limit to what we 
 would do for each other. I 'm as sure of you as 
 you are of me. Each of us would remain single 
 if it would do the other any good ; but it would n't. 
 I give you warning, I shall marry Mr. Right when 
 ever he comes along ; and I 'm ready to give you 
 and the ' not impossible she ' my blessing any day. 
 See how those little sisterly jealous twinges of 
 mine have vanished ? " 
 
 His gloomy eyes met her clear ones, uncoin- 
 forted. 
 
 " You are not rid of me so easily," he responded. 
 " I decline to give up my place until some one else 
 proves his right to it. I have had a blow, Betty ! " 
 
 " I know you have, dear, dear Roger," she mur 
 mured, following him with misty eyes, for with his 
 last words he had mounted and sped off like the 
 wind. 
 
 She went with her two friends to parade, but 
 planned to arrive only in time for the ceremony, so 
 that Gerard could not join them until his calming 
 routine duties were over. 
 
 He had regained command of himself, and his 
 face told no tales as he came back under the trees 
 to greet them.
 
 A SI CYCLE RIDE. 223 
 
 The lieutenant and Nathalie being equally de 
 termined not to walk together, Andreas soon found 
 himself strolling across the lawn beside Miss Dex 
 ter, while the other couple preceded them. 
 
 Betty had found opportunity to tell Russell 
 briefly the point of her morning interview with Ge 
 rard, and he felt vaguely that she expected him to 
 begin immediately on his task of aiding and abetting 
 her. 
 
 With a man's usual distaste for gossip, he did 
 not relish appearing to expose his friend's private 
 matters for discussion ; but having, in addition to 
 his desire to help Betty, an enormous axe to grind 
 on his own account, he swallowed his fastidiousness 
 and plunged into his subject. 
 
 " I fancy that affair will never come to any 
 thing," he remarked, with a nod of his head to 
 ward the other couple. 
 
 " I should be sorry to think so," returned 
 Nathalie shortly. 
 
 " You are ambiguous. Sorry which way ? " 
 
 " Sorry if it should come to nothing. They 
 seem so well suited to each other." 
 
 " I don't know. I imagine it is one of those 
 boy-and-girl affairs which never come to anything, 
 or if they do, it is a mistake." 
 
 Nathalie's lips took a rather cold curve, which 
 Russell told himself humbly that he deserved, more 
 especially if he were rushing in where angels would 
 fear to tread.
 
 224 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 Never mind, he had planted the seed ; and Betty 
 was pleased when he told her about it in the even 
 ing, just as he had hoped she would be. 
 
 Mrs. Archer was as good as her word. She did 
 watch ; and the things she saw gave her food for 
 much restless thought. 
 
 The sudden intimacy which had sprung up 
 between the two girls, who were now " Nathalie " 
 and " Betty " to each other, was a constant source 
 of resentment to her. She observed that the mu 
 sical hours which a little while ago Miss Dexter 
 and Gerard had often enjoyed together had now 
 entirely ceased to be. She thought they even 
 avoided speaking to each other ; and these facts 
 raised her suspicions to fever-heat. It stood to 
 reason, that if they avoided public friendliness, it 
 was because they had a more satisfactory means 
 of exchanging amenities in private. Nothing but 
 Betty's appalling suggestion of the Dexters' trans 
 ference to the Hygeia gave her self-control ; and, in 
 fact, she did appease her wrath by an outbreak 
 upon Miss Toothaker one day, which gave that 
 worthy woman an overpowering surprise. 
 
 Mrs. Archer came in upon her one morning in 
 the storeroom. " I wonder if you have any idea 
 of the trouble you have brought upon this house 
 hold ! " she ejaculated in smothered tones. 
 
 "Who? Me?" returned Miss Priscilla, hold 
 ing an egg suspended in mid-air as she looked 
 around, dismayed at the attack.
 
 A BICYCLE RIDE. 225 
 
 " Hospitality ties my hands, or I would have 
 those Dexters away from here this very day." 
 
 " The Dexters ? The nicest folks that ever came 
 into this house ! " said Miss Toothaker, wondering 
 if she were dreaming. 
 
 " Much you know the sort of people who have 
 come into this house. You 're a parcel of Yankees 
 together. You pretending to be such a friend to 
 Miss Betty ! " 
 
 " And I wish you was half as good a friend to 
 her ! " retorted Miss Priscilla, red in the face under 
 this furious onslaught, and half minded to throw 
 the missile she held. 
 
 " Don't dare to speak to me that way, woman ! 
 What do you care if my child's engagement is 
 broken by the machinations of those people you 
 have brought here ! " 
 
 " Oh ! Why did n't you say you was talkin' 
 about Mr. Andreas ? I '11 thank you not to come 
 here ravin' about the Dexters to me." 
 
 " Mr. Andreas ! " Again the name checked the 
 angry woman. " What do you mean ? " 
 
 " Why, I 've got eyes, I s'pose. He 's nothin' 
 to the Dexters, nor they to him. How are they 
 goin' to help it if he acts cracked about Miss 
 Betty?" 
 
 "I don't think he means anything by that," re 
 joined Mrs. Archer, grasping after her dignity, and 
 anxious to draw the housekeeper out. 
 
 " I guess you don't know what you do think,"
 
 226 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 retorted Miss Priscilla. " I hope Miss Betty '11 do 
 well. I know she '11 do right, far 's she knows. 
 My advice to you is to stand by and keep your 
 mouth shut." 
 
 " Yes, sir, I told her to keep her mouth shut," 
 Miss Priscilla used to repeat with relish, when, 
 later, she described this hot and short interview. 
 "And after that I told her I wished she'd go 
 somewheres else, for I was gettin' out provisions for 
 the cook. And she went"
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 MISS TOOTHAKER'S APPEAL. 
 
 THIS shock to Miss Toothaker's consciousness, 
 abstracted as it had been among the cares of her 
 busy life, opened her eyes to see hitherto unob 
 served signs in her family. Most noticeable was 
 the quiet, serious change that had befallen Mrs. 
 Dexter. 
 
 It was a few days after the storeroom incident 
 that that lady came to Miss Priscilla to announce 
 that she and her daughter expected to spend but 
 a week more at Edgewater. 
 
 " It seems such a pity to be goin', too," answered 
 Miss Priscilla regretfully. " The magnolias and 
 lilies just comin' out, so." 
 
 " But something beautiful is always just coming 
 out here," returned Mrs. Dexter. " I fancy the 
 right time to leave would never come." 
 
 " You ain't lookin' so bright as you was," sug 
 gested the housekeeper kindly. " I hope you 
 have n't had bad news." 
 
 "Yes, I have, Miss Priscilla," said the gentle 
 woman, " but perhaps it is not going to be such 
 bad news as I at first feared." 
 
 " I do hope so, I 'm sure," returned Miss Tooth-
 
 228 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 aker, with hearty and troubled sympathy. " And 
 does it take you away sooner ? " 
 
 " Yes, it does. Don't speak of this." 
 
 " No more 'n one o' those oysters would," re 
 turned Miss Priscilla, indicating the shining sands 
 outside the fence, from which the tide had retreated. 
 " I hope we ain't goin' to have bad news here," 
 she added in the hushed tone she had been using. 
 " It would seem a shame to have anything break off 
 such a pretty match as Miss Betty's." 
 
 Her companion retreated a step ; but Miss Pris- 
 cilla's kind light eyes held no consciousness of 
 inflicting pain. " Shame would be the word," 
 returned Mrs. Dexter severely. " What gave you 
 such an idea?" 
 
 " Oh, the stepmother 's got a bee in her bonnet ; 
 but land ! Mr. Andreas is so kind o' flighty I 'm 
 afraid it 's just a sort o' second nature with him to 
 flirt with pretty girls. I have n't a doubt he 'd 
 have tried it on Nathalie, if she 'd have let him." 
 
 The fright Miss Toothaker had given Mrs. Dex 
 ter caused her heart to beat quickly for minutes. 
 Miss Priscilla remained where she finally left her, 
 wrapped in thought. The housekeeper had been 
 assailed with an idea, and she turned it over some 
 time in her mind before she at last remarked 
 aloud : 
 
 " I don't see why not." 
 
 Junius poked his woolly head around the side of 
 the lattice. " I 'se been watchin' yer, Miss Pris,"
 
 MISS TOOTHAKER'S APPEAL. 229 
 
 he declared. " You looked like you wuz cunjerin' 
 standin' there talkin' to yo'self." 
 
 She sighed. kt You had n't better be too sure 
 I ain't a conjurer," she answered, moving toward 
 the house. 
 
 " Laws, Miss Pris ! " The boy's eyes rolled. 
 
 " You do your work all right, and I guess the 
 conjurers will let you alone." 
 
 " Yas 'm, I 'm I 'm just goin' to do the dishes 
 now ; " and immediately a clash of silver and china, 
 accompanied by one of Junius's favorite hymns, 
 sounded from the dining-room window. 
 
 Miss Toothaker strolled around the house to see 
 if perchance Fortune favored her putting in her 
 oar at the present juncture of affairs in the Archer 
 family. 
 
 Apparently she did, for Miss Priscilla caught 
 sight of Russell Andreas alone on the gallery, his 
 chair tipped back, his feet on the rail, and his hands 
 employed in folding some business papers into rub 
 ber straps. 
 
 He lowered his feet at sight of Miss Toothaker, 
 in her gray gown and white apron, looking up at 
 him. 
 
 " Busy ? " she asked sententiously. 
 
 " I have been, but I 'm just seeing the error of 
 my wa} r s. It 's a great mistake to work between 
 meals, Miss Pris. Remember that for one of your 
 guiding rules of life." 
 
 " Will you give me five minutes, then ? "
 
 230 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 " Give you a whole day a week a year," 
 he responded with enthusiasm. " Will you 'come 
 up?" 
 
 " No ; I want to see you alone." 
 
 " Ah ! You make me thrill ! " and Andreas 
 repressed a yawn as he rose and came deliberately 
 down the nearest flight of steps. 
 
 " You even keep your hand in with me, don't 
 you ? " remarked Miss Toothaker dryly. " I guess 
 you 're as bad a flirt as there is goin'." 
 
 " Guess again, Miss Pris. There are lots worse ; 
 and for you to doubt me ! This is hard indeed." 
 
 " I know you pretty well, young man. Come 
 over under the big tree. This sun 's warm." 
 
 "So is this one. Fine old tree that is, but it 
 just swarms with some little green insect, do you 
 know. If you 're going to sit on the rustic seat, 
 you won't misunderstand me if I don't sit very 
 close to you ? " 
 
 " You keep in range o' my voice, that 's all I 
 ask ; " and Miss Toothaker led the way to the 
 honey-locust and seated herself, regardless of 
 myriad busy aphides, while Andreas ensconced 
 himself in the swing that hung from a large bough. 
 
 " There 's a something, an indefinable tone, 
 just a nuance of expression in your voice and man 
 ner that gives me vague terrors," remarked Russell, 
 regarding his companion with amused curiosity. 
 " There is an absence of yearning tenderness in 
 your face which suggests that you may be going to
 
 MISS TOOTHAKEJt'S APPEAL. 231 
 
 cut off my preserves at tea. Tell me frankly, why 
 have you lured me into this lonely part of the 
 grounds just at nap-time, when my shrieks for help 
 would probably be unheard ? " 
 
 " I 'm goin' to tell you, young man. You know 
 I ain't any hand to beat about the bush. Just as 
 like 's not I 'm goin' to make you mad, but when 
 I think I see my duty, I do it, every time. You 
 know I nursed you through one fever? " She 
 paused. 
 
 " Bless your heart ! You did that ! " 
 
 " Well, I 'in afraid you 've got another," said 
 Miss Toothaker bluntly. " I 'm an old maid, and 
 don't know much about such things ; but I like 
 you, and I like Betty Archer, and I like Lieutenant 
 Gerard, and when I see you kind o' forgettin' your 
 self and perhaps bringin' trouble onto those faith 
 ful lovers, I just think to myself, who is there to 
 speak to you but me ? " 
 
 For once Andreas was silent. He looked at his 
 accuser, then toward the house, then back again at 
 Miss Toothaker, who was evidently holding herself 
 up to her task with difficulty. 
 
 " I don't think for one minute that you ain't 
 honorable, but I do believe you don't know the 
 harm you may do. You 're the kind o' lookin' man 
 that turns girls' heads." 
 
 Andreas made a slight impatient gesture. Even 
 his enemies admitted that reference to his hand 
 some person was distasteful to him.
 
 232 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 " Now Mrs. Archer and I met up the other day 
 like two old tabbies on a fence disputin' the right 
 o' way. She began spittin' about the Dexters and 
 insinuatin' her insults. I knew what she meant 
 well enough, for I 'd noticed you. She classes you 
 all in together as my friends, and I answered her 
 back pretty well. I told her flat out I knew she 
 meant you." 
 
 Andreas gave an odd smile at the grass. " What 
 did she say to that ? " 
 
 " It seemed to shut her up. She did n't know 
 what to say ; but it just set me to thinkin' that 
 right now was when you wanted a good friend ; 
 and I am a good friend o' yours. You believe it, 
 don't you ? " 
 
 " I do indeed." 
 
 Miss Priscilla regarded him with troubled eyes. 
 " If I could put you to bed and nurse you through 
 this, I would n't begrudge the trouble, not a 
 bit," she said kindly. " But seein' I can't, don't 
 you think, Mr. Andreas," persuasively, " you 'd 
 better go away from here ? " 
 
 " Gerard is my rival in more fields than one, it 
 seems." 
 
 " Why, of course I want him to have his rights. 
 You know as well as I do what his rights are." 
 Miss Priscilla's tone was scandalized. 
 
 " Well, I thank you, Miss Pris, and I will be 
 more careful in future." Andreas returned her 
 look frankly and seriously. " I promise you to
 
 MISS TOOTHAKER'S APPEAL. 233 
 
 avoid an approach to dishonor, and perhaps I will 
 go away very soon." 
 
 "And you know just how sorry I am to have 
 you ! " exclaimed the good woman anxiously. 
 
 That afternoon Nathalie and Betty, Gerard and 
 Andreas, took a boat-ride together. They rowed 
 to a point about a mile distant, and landing, sat 
 under the trees in a breeze blowing fresh from 
 Chesapeake Bay. 
 
 Mrs. Archer saw them depart with mingled 
 excited feelings, uppermost in which was resent 
 ment toward Betty for slighting privileges and 
 opportunities which a girl of better judgment would 
 improve. Even that stupid Miss Toothaker had 
 observed the impression made upon Russell An 
 dreas. 
 
 If Betty were sincere in the romantic idiocy of 
 throwing Roger over, what a godsend was this new 
 and even more eligible parti ; but fearing that the 
 girl was capable of clinging in her heart to Gerard 
 even though she gave him his liberty, Mrs. Archer 
 was gnawed with anxiety lest such a slippery big 
 fish would be deliberately permitted to get away 
 when perfectly willing to be caught. 
 
 " I '11 make her suffer for that, if she is so enor 
 mously stupid," vowed Mrs. Archer to herself, 
 wishing it were still a la mode to shut girls up and 
 keep them on bread and water. 
 
 Betty, unconscious of the resentful thoughts that 
 pursued her, was feeling more light-hearted and
 
 234 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 happy than for weeks past. Her satisfaction in 
 seeing Roger and Nathalie together had now be 
 come spontaneous, and she let her high spirits have' 
 their way, believing that to let Gerard see her con 
 tentment would be the best balm for his wound ; 
 indeed, convince him that his honor and self- 
 respect had not been injured by his runaway 
 affections. 
 
 He had not reached that relief as yet, however. 
 The chief reason that he had come to long to con 
 fess himself to Nathalie was that he might throw 
 himself on her compassion and beg her to go away. 
 The sight of her face and the sound of her voice 
 were sweet torment. He was still promising him 
 self to conquer his love, to win Betty back, and to 
 devote his life to making her happy. 
 
 By ill-luck Nathalie had been placed in the stern 
 of the boat, and he, as he rowed, was face to face 
 with her. Her white flannel suit and the reddish 
 tendrils of hair that curled and clung up against 
 her white cap in the wind photographed them 
 selves on his brain. 
 
 The girl felt none of the stormy compunctions 
 that swelled beneath his calm exterior. She wanted 
 just this. She wished to see him and Betty to 
 gether, as she meant to hold them in her mind all 
 her life, and desired to accustom herself with more 
 and more friendly feeling to this conception. A 
 very sweet and serious expression was in her eyes, 
 one that did not at all contribute to the peace
 
 MfSS TOOTHAKER'S APPEAL. 235 
 
 of mind of the longing man before her ; and she, 
 with her belief in him, her admiration and respect 
 for him, did not dream that he would have been 
 glad to avoid her, but talked to him easily, forgiv 
 ing his courteous monosyllables on the score of his 
 preoccupation, until they reached the peninsula 
 whither they were bound. 
 
 " Going home, Nathalie and I are going to row," 
 announced Betty, as they left the boat. 
 
 " All right," agreed Andreas. " ' I would not 
 live alway.' Would you, jGrerard ?" 
 
 The latter made a gesture. " So long as I die 
 with Betty, what matter when ? " 
 
 " Hear, hear ! " called Andreas. " Or no. On 
 second thoughts I take back that applause. It is 
 excessively unmilitary for you to propose dying 
 with Miss Archer Archer. I insist that you be 
 murdered properly on the plains." 
 
 " You unpleasant person ! " exclaimed Nathalie. 
 
 The men spread down shawls for the two girls 
 to sit upon, and disposed themselves close by. 
 
 " Now, then, bring on some Pulpit waves," sug 
 gested Russell, regarding the softly lapping water. 
 
 " Now you are impolite," said Nathalie. 
 
 "We forgive him," said Gerard, half-reclining 
 close to the hem of Betty's blue dress. "Espe 
 cially we who have been there. Betty, you ought 
 to see the Pulpit." 
 
 " Roger, that 's not original. I 've heard you 
 say it befo', and I promise you the same summer I 
 visit the moon I'll visit the Pulpit."
 
 236 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 " You must come up again this year, old man," 
 said Andreas. " My mother wrote me yesterday 
 to be sure to ask you." 
 
 " Please thank her very sincerely ; but I shall 
 not be able to repeat the pleasure this summer." 
 
 " Why, do go, Roger ! It did you so much 
 good." 
 
 Gerard met Betty's earnest look. " I shall not 
 get any leave this year." 
 
 *' Want to stay where you can watch me, don't 
 you ? " she asked saucily. 
 
 " I want to stay with you, yes." 
 
 She looked down into the depths of his eloquent, 
 unsmiling eyes. Then she poked the tip of her 
 finger into the spot in his cheek where a dimple 
 would be if he had had one. 
 
 " Could n't he laugh a little for the lady ? " she 
 asked wheedlingly ; and Andreas began absently 
 tearing up the grass with one hand and wondering 
 if Roger would win after all, while Nathalie con 
 gratulated herself with a hurrying heart that this 
 was a fine opportunity for learning the lesson she 
 had set herself. 
 
 And Roger, infected by the mischievous sparkle 
 in the blue eyes above him, sighed, but smiled as 
 he was bid. 
 
 They made an early start home, for a dance was 
 in order that evening. 
 
 The water-trip was made eventful chiefly by 
 Nathalie's inexperience with the oars and the
 
 MfSS TOOTffAKER'S APPEAL. 237 
 
 directions and devout comments of Russell, who 
 had on several occasions constituted himself her 
 instructor in the art of rowing. 
 
 Under cover of their nonsense Gerard made a 
 serious appeal to Betty. 
 
 " No, no," she answered, with firm brightness. 
 " I 'm happy now, and you will come to happiness 
 too. I sleep all night like a baby. I did n't befo'. 
 Look into ma eyes, Roger. Don't you see that 
 I 'm telling the truth ? " 
 
 He leaned back in his seat silently, while Rus 
 sell's pathetic tones rent the air. 
 
 " Miss Dexter ! I 'm dripping ! Heaven knows 
 I don't want to be unchivalrous, and it is painful 
 to expose the poverty of my wardrobe ; but really, 
 one more crab like that, and I shall have to wear 
 my dress suit mornings." 
 
 " Cut them off and make knickerbockers of 
 them," suggested Nathalie unfeelingly ; and Betty, 
 whose oars here collided with the unmanageable 
 ones behind her, lost her stroke, and laughed 
 
 " By Jove ! that girl 's a good actress, if she 
 is n't an out and out angel," thought Andreas. He 
 was nearly as perturbed as Gerard's self, and quite 
 as much in need of reassurance.
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 AT THE BALL. 
 
 THE ballroom at the Hygeia was gay to-night, 
 and the long promenade was as popular as the 
 glass-inclosed dancing-floor. Army and naval uni 
 forms varied the monotony of conventional evening 
 dress, and the women's light gowns enlivened the 
 scene. 
 
 " What a serious beauty Nathalie has to-night," 
 said Betty to Andreas, as he came to claim her for 
 their first dance together. " Of co'se she 's a 
 pretty girl, but there is something so spiritual in 
 her look in that white gown, something differ 
 ent from usual. Have you observed it ? " 
 
 " I noticed that she looked well. I 've just been 
 telling her so. But you are right. She is extraor 
 dinarily mum to-night." 
 
 " So is Roger," sighed Betty. 
 
 " I am not sorry to exchange her for a partner 
 who can speak, and one who has some color in her 
 gown as well as in her conversation. Do you know 
 I particularly like this color ? " 
 
 " So unusual, I suppose." 
 
 " Are you laughing at me ? " 
 
 " Well, I fancy you 've seen several pink gowns."
 
 AT THE BALL. 239 
 
 " Oh, but not of just your hue. It looks differ 
 ent from any I ever saw, really." 
 
 Miss Archer gave a little shrug. 
 
 " I thought I 'd better wear pink because I felt 
 blue." 
 
 " I knew you were acting all along," said An 
 dreas with sudden gloom. " Did you notice Gerard 
 as he and Miss Dexter just passed us ? They look 
 more like mutes at a funeral than people at a ball. 
 And if you are blue, too, you ought to stop this 
 whole business." 
 
 " Why, Mr. Andreas ! " exclaimed Betty in sur 
 prise at his tone, and no more words passed be 
 tween them until the dance was ended, and the 
 couples began to hasten, chatting and laughing, 
 out of doors. 
 
 " Do you wish to wait here for Gerard, or shall 
 I take you to Mrs. Archer?" asked Russell stiffly. 
 
 Betty's eyes were lifted to him questioningly, 
 and he looked down at her innocent face and 
 girlish white neck rising from her airy pink 
 frills. 
 
 " Why are you vexed with me ? " she asked. 
 
 " Because you are making a lot of people unne 
 cessarily uncomfortable by your mistaken unself 
 ishness," was the severe reply. " You admit that 
 you are blue." 
 
 " How can I help feeling sad for Roger when I 
 see him struggling ? " she asked, and her gentle 
 ness made him ashamed of his jealousy.
 
 240 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 " Would you like to walk out a little way ? " 
 he asked briefly. 
 
 "Yes, and quickly. It will give them more 
 time together." 
 
 " Then let me get your wrap." He moved to 
 where Mrs. Archer was sitting, and that lady's 
 vain heart swelled with pride that her companion 
 chaperons should see him. 
 
 " Don't let Betty stay out too long," she said, as 
 she smilingly handed him the silken scarf. 
 
 " One of the Andreas family of Philadelphia," 
 she explained carelessly, when he had gone. 
 
 " When are your daughter and Mr. Gerard to be 
 married?" asked her portly next neighbor. 
 
 " Who knows if they ever will be ? " responded 
 Mrs. Archer lightly. " They seem to think them 
 selves boy and girl still." 
 
 Andreas placed the wrap about Betty's shoul 
 ders, and they followed the promenaders out to 
 where the waves were booming. 
 
 " Forgive me if I seemed rough a minute ago," 
 he said. " Surely I ought to reconsider my promise 
 to be your ally in a crusade against your own hap 
 piness. It is wrong why, it is fantastic to sacri 
 fice yourself to Miss Dexter in this way ! Admit 
 ting that Roger was somewhat taken with her 
 music, you see how it has knocked him up for you 
 to throw him over. He is sane enough now at all 
 events, and has had a lesson. If you would let me 
 tell him that you have confessed to me that you are 
 unhappy "
 
 AT THE BALL. 241 
 
 " And you call yourself ma friend ! " exclaimed 
 Betty. 
 
 " I don't admit a rival there, not even Koger," 
 was the quick rejoinder. 
 
 " Then I wonder why you can't understand that 
 I 'm not unhappy for maself." 
 
 " I don't believe you think enough about your 
 self to know." 
 
 " Indeed I do. Don't you worry about my un 
 selfishness." 
 
 " Then are n't you willing to marry Roger even, 
 if you could be made to believe that he loves you ? " 
 
 A low laugh escaped the girl. " I think, Mr, 
 Andreas, he could have made me believe it, if he 
 had loved me." 
 
 " But you love him, and that makes me misera 
 ble ! " exclaimed her companion. 
 
 " Yo 're just as kind as you can be, but one of 
 us is awfully stupid. I thought I 'd explained to 
 you that I only love Roger as a lonely girl must 
 love the brother who is all the world to her. I 'm 
 mo' than willing he should marry some one else." 
 
 "And I 'm to believe that ! " 
 
 Betty laughed softly again. " I don't know. I 
 hope so ; but you seem to be unreliable. You may 
 say something cross to me and something clumsy to 
 Roger befo' I know it." 
 
 " I won't, I won't ! " Russell's big voice trem 
 bled. " I can go ahead with some heart now ; " 
 but here some acquaintances of Betty stopped her
 
 242 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 on the walk, and introductions and small talk fol 
 lowed. 
 
 Andreas and Gerard found a minute for a few 
 quiet words at the close of the evening, while the 
 ladies were preparing for the drive home. Russell 
 felt that he was about to enter upon ticklish ground 
 as he regarded his friend's set countenance, but 
 what was the risk of a few snubs to a man in his 
 state of mind ? 
 
 " Miss Archer has been telling me an astonish 
 ing bit of news," he began, seating himself near 
 the lieutenant on the piazza. 
 
 " Yes ? " was the not inviting response. 
 
 " She tells me that the understanding between 
 you has resolved itself into an agreement not to 
 marry." 
 
 " That is a misstatement. I have not agreed 
 to it." 
 
 " But you are not the man to hold a girl who 
 wishes to be free." 
 
 "What do you mean by speaking to me of 
 this ? " asked Gerard, with the ultra-deliberation of 
 manner his chum remembered. 
 
 " Confound it, Roger, don't be grouchy. Why 
 should n't I speak, since Miss Archer gave me the 
 right ? She says you are both free." 
 
 The lieutenant shook his head. " I am not 
 free." Then impatiently, " What do you want to 
 talk about it for? You can't understand." 
 
 " I understand the whole situation. Miss Archer
 
 AT THE BALL. 243 
 
 has been kind enough to give it to me. Her paint 
 ing is everything to her. It is all she wants for 
 her happiness. She says it makes her feel entirely 
 independent for the future." 
 
 A slow smile curved the lieutenant's mustache, 
 and under his quizzical look Andreas smiled rather 
 consciously. 
 
 " You 've learned the words, Rusty, but you 
 are n't much of an actor. You feel a trifle uncon 
 vinced yourself, don't you ? " 
 
 " Of course, that about her comfortable indepen 
 dence is all moonshine," admitted the ambassador 
 bluntly, although with desperate thoughts of Miss 
 Archer's displeasure; "but I say, Gerard," he 
 looked up with sudden determination, " don't be a 
 dog in the manger. Give me a show, won't you ? " 
 
 Gerard changed his position, and his dreamy 
 eyes widened. " What ? " 
 
 " I 'm head over ears. I 'm swamped. I 'm 
 gone." 
 
 " What ! You of the chronically ' honorable 
 but remote intentions' ? " 
 
 " Yes ; and they 're deucedly remote now, but it 
 is n't my fault." 
 
 " Does she know it ? " Gerard's pulses were 
 fluttering with new strivings to be free. 
 
 " Know it ! No ! " 
 
 " See here, old man, you need n't shout. Then 
 that is the explanation of your officiousness." Ge 
 rard fell into thought, and his companion did not
 
 244 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 disturb him. At last he looked up. " Betty has 
 evidently told you everything. I am going to ask 
 you a question now that will be a strain on your 
 honesty ; but answer it on your honor. Do you 
 believe her decision irrevocable ? Do you believe 
 I cannot induce her to marry me? " 
 
 " I don't know sure," responded Russell, looking 
 from one side to the other in a hunted way, which 
 would have been comical to Gerard at another time. 
 "But she says she isn't in love with you and 
 does n't want to marry you. I urged her to stick 
 to you ; I did, for a fact. I believed then she 
 really wanted you, you laiow." 
 
 Gerard looked away. " That would seem frank 
 enough," he remarked. " I ask the question, An 
 dreas," he went on after a second, " because I can 
 not feel as if any one would take such care of 
 Betty as I should." 
 
 " Oh, get off the earth ! " retorted the other. 
 
 " I believe you would come next, though," and 
 the young officer smiled ; the rigid lines of his face 
 had slowly faded away. 
 
 " I mean to come next if a man's powers can 
 compass it, that is, I suppose you have no ob 
 jection." 
 
 The two men looked at each other for an instant 
 in silence as they rose ; then Gerard held out his 
 hand, and Andreas was not slow to clasp it. 
 
 "Thank God it is you, Rusty," was the low re 
 sponse.
 
 AT THE BALL. 245 
 
 Poor Nathalie, strained and over-tired, longed 
 to creep to bed when the party at last reached 
 Edgewater, and her heart rebelled when Betty 
 caught her arm at the door. 
 
 " Don't go in yet," she said softly, for Mrs. 
 Archer had preceded them, and she feared to let 
 her hear. " I have something to tell you." 
 
 " But it is so late," objected Nathalie. What 
 ever Betty had to tell, she was sure she did not 
 wish to hear it. 
 
 " It won't take me long ; and don't you always 
 want to talk over a party ? Yo' mother is in yo' 
 room, and ma mother is in mine, and we can't have 
 any peace in the house. Beside, it is such a lovely 
 night, it is a shame to go in." 
 
 " Oh, you are going to stay out and smoke with 
 me ! How kind ! " said Andreas, seeing them 
 turn away from the door. 
 
 " Indeed we are not," returned Betty. " Who 
 ever heard of a man being admitted to an ' After 
 the Ball ' conclave ! " 
 
 " Oh, do let me," begged Eussell effusively. 
 " I '11 tell you all about my compliments, and how 
 the other fellows' coats were cut " 
 
 But with a firm gesture of farewell, Betty led 
 her captive away. 
 
 The moon was low, and the great trees were still 
 beneath the star-set, velvet sky. In a remote 
 corner of the gallery Miss Archer found two chairs, 
 and ensconced her reluctant friend beside her.
 
 246 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 " Did you enjoy it ? " she asked. 
 
 " Not very much." 
 
 " Dear me ! " returned Betty. " Did n't you like 
 yo' partners ? " 
 
 " Yes ; the fault was wholly in myself. Some 
 times I don't feel like dancing. I know this 
 sounds ungracious ; but you 're always so good to 
 me, I know you will let me be honest. You see 
 you would better have let me go to bed." 
 
 " No," confidentially, " because I did n't have a 
 good time either." 
 
 " Indeed ? I am sorry. I thought you were 
 very gay." 
 
 " Oh," Betty repressed a yawn, " we girls can 
 all smile and smile and be villains still, you know. 
 I never have a good time if Roger does n't, and 
 did n't you think he was out of sorts to-night ? " 
 
 " I believe he was rather quiet." 
 
 " And I can tell you why. He is in a transi 
 tion stage ; and they are always so unpleasant, you 
 know." 
 
 Nathalie made no comment. 
 
 " You don't seem very curious about our affairs." 
 Betty smiled, and reaching over, squeezed her 
 friend's hand. " But I 'm going to tell you about 
 this little hard time I 'm having with Roger, be 
 cause too many people believe we are engaged, and 
 the sooner the truth is generally understood, the 
 better. Now that we have arrived at years of dis 
 cretion, we have discovered that neither of us has
 
 AT THE BALL. 247 
 
 the slightest desire to marry the other ; and yet. if 
 you will believe it, that foolish boy won't agree 
 that it is right fo' him to trust me to travel safely 
 through life without him ! Of course he will in 
 the end ; but if you knew what Roger is, you would 
 understand why he feels actually remorseful about 
 the whole matter. It makes it mighty unpleasant 
 fo' us both." 
 
 Nathalie leaned against the pillar, her heart beat 
 ing almost to suffocation. Betty felt the impossi 
 bility it was to her to speak ; so, looking out on 
 the shadowy bay and feigning to repress another 
 yawn, she continued after a little silence : 
 
 " The worst is over, I reckon. Roger squeezed 
 ma hand and smiled like his dear old self when he 
 put me into the carriage to come home to-night. 
 I felt certain that he had begun to look at the 
 situation reasonably, and if so, Nathalie, you must 
 congratulate me, for I shall feel as light-hearted as 
 a bird." 
 
 " You deserve to be happy." Nathalie managed 
 to utter the words, but in a rather breathless 
 voice. 
 
 " Poor thing ! Yo 're so sleepy," returned Betty, 
 laughing. " I may as well let you go to bed while 
 you can still understand what I 'm talking about." 
 
 She put her soft arms around her friend's neck 
 and kissed her tenderly as they separated, and 
 Nathalie hurried to her own room. 
 
 Hastening to the side of her sleeping mother,
 
 248 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 she sat down on the edge of the bed in the dim 
 light, and stooping over her, pressed her fresh 
 cheek to hers. 
 
 Mrs. Dexter stirred. 
 
 " You home, Nathalie ? " 
 
 " Yes, dear. You told me to wake you, and 
 I would have had to, anyway. Can we go away 
 to-morrow ? " 
 
 The question made the mother alert at once. 
 " Yes, indeed. You give up your experiment, 
 then?" 
 
 " Oh, I am frightened, mother ! Betty says it 
 is all broken off." 
 
 " May we be forgiven ! " ejaculated Mrs. Dexter, 
 horrified. 
 
 "No, no, dear," the girl murmured with soft 
 eagerness. " Betty confided in me. She does n't 
 wish to marry him. She truly does n't." 
 
 "How can that be?" 
 
 " Yes, how can it ! But it is true. I must be 
 lieve her ; and now I can't stay another day." 
 
 Why I don't see " 
 
 " Mother ! " 
 
 " Yes, yes ; I suppose it would be hard. We 
 will go, Nathalie."
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 GREEK MEETS GREEK. 
 
 THE Dexter s' sudden departure made a stir the 
 following day. 
 
 " It 's not sportsmanlike for you to leave before 
 I do, Miss Nathalie," said Andreas. "Just come 
 out in the boat once more and row me about, to 
 show that you have no hard feelings. I have still 
 one pair of trousers that is n't shrunk quite to the 
 knees." 
 
 " You make it very tempting," she answered. 
 " Is n't it hard enough to leave Edgewater, any 
 way?" 
 
 Mother and daughter told all inquirers that they 
 had received news which hurried them away ; and 
 only Betty Archer understood what this news was. 
 
 " I 'm going to be very philosophical about this 
 separation, Nathalie," she declared. " I feel it in 
 ma bones that we shall meet again, and ma bones 
 are exceptionally truthful." 
 
 " I hope your affairs will come out to your entire 
 satisfaction," returned Nathalie, as composedly as 
 she was able. 
 
 " You must leave some nice messages fo' Roger. 
 " It 's right strange he has n't been over this mo'n- 
 in ". 
 
 O'
 
 250 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 "He told me last evening that his duties as 
 officer of the day would keep him at the post," 
 replied Nathalie. This fact had given her satis 
 faction and relief all through her hurried prepara 
 tions. " You must give him our good-bys." 
 
 " And regrets, of co'se? " added demure Betty. 
 
 " Oh, of course." 
 
 And so, accompanied by a little concourse to the 
 station, and laden with" roses, the Dexters left 
 Edgewater and Virginia, deeply regretted by all 
 the company but Mrs. Archer, who moved with a 
 lighter step and happier mien after their departure. 
 
 " It 's a wonder that girl did n't go over to the 
 post and hunt up Roger to say good-by," she re 
 marked to Betty. 
 
 " It would have made him very happy if she had. 
 I dread to tell him she has gone." 
 
 " Oh, you are such a dunce, Betty ! It 's the 
 best thing that could happen to you to have her 
 out of the way." 
 
 They had sat down on the piazza in cool shade 
 after the warm walk to and from the train. 
 
 Betty braced herself for an avowal. It might 
 as well come now as any time: 
 
 " I ought to tell you, Mrs. Archer, that I 've at 
 last told Roger ma wish that we should be brother 
 and sister for evermore." 
 
 The older woman turned and scrutinized the girl 
 alertly. 
 
 " Betty, don't be afraid to confide in me about
 
 GREEK MEETS GREEK. 251 
 
 Mr. Andreas," she said tentatively. "It will be 
 better for us both, I assure you." 
 
 " Mr. Andreas has nothing to do with the ques 
 tion. I wish you would believe it." The girl 
 blushed in spite of herself, and her heart beat fast 
 with distaste for this necessary ordeal. " If you 
 have any regard fo' me," she added earnestly, 
 " please try to take ma standpoint for a minute 
 and listen to what I say. I used to believe that it 
 would be right fo' me to marry Roger some time, 
 but now I know it would be wrong. I didn't see 
 it all at once. I had some pangs to bear, fo' I 
 had been first with him so long ; but in the mental 
 struggle I have learned to understand ma own feel 
 ings, and it is of no use to argue, fo' it is clear to 
 me as the light of day that a girl should have a 
 sentiment fo' the man she marries totally different 
 from any I 've ever felt fo' Roger Gerard." 
 
 Mrs. Archer eyed her shrewdly. " Yes ; since 
 knowing Mr. Andreas you have discovered all 
 this!" 
 
 " Truly," exclaimed the distressed girl, " truly 
 he has nothing to do with the case." 
 
 Mrs. Archer gave a hard laugh. " I wish girls 
 would once in a while tell the truth about these 
 matters. Oh, well, I can apply to him, if you 
 prefer." 
 
 " Would you be so unkind ? That compels me 
 to tell you that he has confided to me that he is 
 in love with some one else."
 
 252 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 The stepmother reddened. " Then he has be 
 haved outrageously, Betty Archer ! He has flirted 
 with you till he has set every one talking. No 
 wonder Roger relinquished you ! But we will go 
 to the poor boy together. We will tell him there 
 is nothing in it, and he will take you back. It 's 
 ridiculous ! It 's wicked ! You need n't think I 
 shall sit tamely by and see you " 
 
 But here Betty fled into the house, for the angry 
 voice was rising, and she did not know who might 
 be witnessing the scene. 
 
 At all events, it was over. The worst was 
 passed. Roger was pacified, Nathalie enlightened, 
 Mrs. Archer fully informed. The question of 
 where Betty herself should live, and how, if her 
 stepmother persisted in making Edge water too 
 uncomfortable for her, had yet to be met ; and as 
 her little paint-brush was the weapon she always 
 thought of in possible battles with the world, she 
 went to her painting-table now and began to work 
 with energy, trying to forget all other thoughts in 
 this interest. 
 
 But the storm without did not die down so 
 quickly as she hoped it would. One victim of 
 Mrs. Archer's indignation having escaped her, that 
 lady looked about for another. She concluded 
 there would be tangible satisfaction in a talk with 
 Russell Andreas at the present juncture. Despite 
 an undercurrent of fear of giving permanent 
 offense to one of the best families, she could not
 
 GREEK MEETS GREEK. 253 
 
 resist her own craving to punish that exasperat- 
 ingly irresponsible Free Lance. 
 
 She found him swinging in a hammock. In 
 fact, he saw her first through the meshes of his 
 couch, as she came with determined tread across 
 the lawn, and he weighed the possibilities of decent 
 escape with depressing results. 
 
 " Ye gods and little fishes ! I 'm in for it ! " he 
 murmured. " Don't remember a thing about Phila 
 delphia ! I 've forgotten the whole outfit, from 
 Independence Hall to the public buildings ! " 
 
 With prompt courtesy, all the same, he sprang 
 from his couch. " Would n't you like this ham 
 mock, Mrs. Archer ? " 
 
 " I never get into a hammock," she responded, 
 with a fierceness so disproportionate to the subject 
 that the young man's jaw fell, and he sank upon 
 the netting in a sitting posture and awaited de 
 velopments. 
 
 Mrs. Archer took a rustic chair near him. " I 
 have just been having the most surprising talk 
 with my daughter Betty, Mr. Andreas." 
 
 " All right ! All right ! Come on, old lady ! " 
 was the mental response which greeted this an 
 nouncement, though outwardly Russell's counte 
 nance only composed itself, and he adopted an 
 attitude of polite attention. 
 
 " She tells me her engagement to Roger is off." 
 
 Andreas bowed. " They have been kind enough 
 to confide the fact to me." The cold and serious
 
 254 MJSS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 formality into which the speaker seemed to freeze 
 had far from a cooling effect upon his interlocutor. 
 
 " He is your friend, I believe," she said, with 
 elaborate sarcasm. 
 
 "I believe so." 
 
 " And you believe also, no doubt, that you have 
 treated him well." 
 
 "Why?" asked Andreas, with exasperating 
 courtesy. " Don't you ? " 
 
 Mrs. Archer emitted a scornful laugh. " Peo 
 ple's standards differ. You have come here," she 
 began to glare at him again, " and have flirted with 
 his fiancee until he naturally believes that it is for 
 her happiness that he should give her up." 
 
 " Are n't you too excited to have full command 
 of yourself ? " asked Russell with gentle sugges 
 tion. " Shall we not postpone this interview 
 indefinitely?" 
 
 " No doubt you would like to. What are girls' 
 hearts to a man like you ? Thanks to you, Betty 
 may be a struggling old maid all her life." 
 
 A darkness overspread the young man's face. 
 " Be kind enough not to speak of Miss Archer in 
 a cheapening manner." 
 
 " Indeed ! I shall not ask you how I may speak 
 of her ! " 
 
 " Yes, you will." The answer was so quick, and 
 the insouciant manner had changed to an attitude 
 so masterful, that Mrs. Archer could not retort at 
 once for surprise, nor could she drop her gaze from 
 the eyes that held her.
 
 GREEK MEETS GREEK. 255 
 
 " You will speak of her with respect, or you will 
 have no listener in me." 
 
 She still stared, fascinated. 
 
 " There are two people in the world to whom 
 Miss Archer's happiness is of supreme importance. 
 One is Roger Gerard and the other is myself. Do 
 you suppose we are going to permit you to make 
 her wretched, if she chooses to call her heart her 
 own as well as her soul ? From now on you will 
 be accountable to us for every word and action 
 concerning her." 
 
 Mrs. Archer caught her breath. " Well ! Per 
 haps you will tell me by what right you interfere ! " 
 she ejaculated. 
 
 Andreas looked out to the creek frowningly, and 
 drew his lips together in a meditative, noiseless 
 whistle. 
 
 At last he faced her again. " Perhaps it would 
 be better all around if I should," he answered. 
 " My right arises from the fact that I love Miss 
 Archer." 
 
 " As a brother, I suppose," responded the other 
 with a sneer. 
 
 Andreas was looking off again. An irrepressi 
 ble long breath rose in his throat. 
 
 " No," he answered, " not as a brother." 
 
 Mrs. Archer started and actually paled in a 
 revulsion of feeling. What would she not give 
 to undo the work of the past fifteen minutes ! 
 " She believes you care for some one else," she said 
 faintly, after a stunned silence.
 
 256 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 "I know she does. Do not undeceive her. I 
 am capable of managing this affair, if yon will have 
 the goodness to permit me, and I shall try to take 
 my failure decently if it comes. I am sorry to be 
 discourteous, but the greatest favor you can do to 
 all parties now is to efface yourself so far as cir 
 cumstances will permit." 
 
 Mrs. Archer rose, too humiliated even for anger. 
 "I attacked you under a misunderstanding," she 
 said miserably. 
 
 " I know you did." 
 
 She waited undecidedly. It was all like a bad 
 dream. How she would have enjoyed the position 
 of welcoming this man graciously as a son ! And 
 here she was reduced to standing before him as a 
 culprit, before him, an Andreas ! 
 
 "I suppose you won't shake hands with me?" 
 she said, after a short, painful silence. 
 
 He had risen when she did. 
 
 " It would be as well to wait, perhaps," he an 
 swered, with a slight inclination of the head. " Let 
 us see what the future brings forth." 
 
 Tingling with mortification, she turned and went 
 back to the house. 
 
 " Betty, I feel ill," she said abruptly, entering 
 the studio. " I 've a raging headache." 
 
 The girl instantly pushed back her chair and 
 rose with a look of concern. 
 
 Her stepmother did indeed appear to be suffer 
 ing. In a minute more the girl had made her lie
 
 GREEK MEETS GREEK. 257 
 
 down, covered her lightly, and was smoothing her 
 forehead with cool fingers. 
 
 Mrs. Archer lay with closed eyes, while Betty 
 wondered at her passivity, for it was not thus that 
 her stepmother usually bore physical pain. 
 
 From time to time the prostrate woman opened 
 her eyes and looked off into space, and once she 
 thanked Betty for her ministrations. 
 
 " She must be going to be dangerously ill," 
 thought the girl, amazed. 
 
 " I 'm afraid yo 're worrying very much about 
 Roger and me," she said timidly. 
 
 The gentleness of her tone falling upon Mrs. 
 Archer's harrowed feelings brought that lady 
 nearer to shame and contrition than she had been 
 for years. In her crushed condition it would have 
 been a relief to confess all to the kind young girl, 
 but she did not dare. Russell's strong face seemed 
 still commanding her to efface herself. 
 
 " No, it is n't that. You and Roger are of age. 
 You must settle your affairs between yourselves," 
 she returned. 
 
 And in the alarm created by this stingless reply, 
 Betty began casting about in her mind as to what 
 doctor had better be sent for. 
 
 But it proved that Mrs. Archer did not require 
 a physician. She soon rose from her bed, but with 
 a passive and colorless demeanor astonishing to 
 behold. 
 
 " Do you believe in sudden conversion? " asked
 
 258 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 Betty of Andreas, as the two were on their way to 
 parade that afternoon. Miss Archer wished to be 
 the one to break the news to Gerard of Nathalie's 
 departure. 
 
 " Why ? " returned her escort. " Has Junius got 
 'em again ? " 
 
 " Mr. Andreas ! " 
 
 "You needn't be horrified. Life would be a 
 dreary waste to Junius without his semi-annual 
 conversion." 
 
 " Well, it is n't Junius. It 's Mrs. Archer. I 'm 
 right frightened about her." 
 
 "More apt to be apoplexy than religion in her 
 case, is n't it ? " 
 
 " Why, Mr. Andreas ! She 'd be so shocked if 
 she heard you that her crimps would stand on end ! 
 She had a regular tantrum this morning about 
 Roger and me, and now suddenly she seems just as 
 gentle as a lamb." 
 
 " Quite a relief sometimes when the wolf bor 
 rows the sheep's togs, is n't it ? " returned Andreas, 
 laughing heartily. It touched his sense of humor 
 irresistibly to picture the erstwhile virago amazing 
 Betty with her change of heart. 
 
 " Why, if she would be all the time like this, 
 we could have a right peaceful life," said the girl, 
 with such nai've wistfulness that Russell stopped 
 laughing and his eyes grew tender. 
 
 " I wonder if you suspect what a nice girl you 
 are," he said.
 
 GREEK MEETS GREEK. 259 
 
 "The idea!" She laughed in her turn. "I don't 
 know why it is, but you always seem to be getting 
 a false impression of me, Mr. Andreas. I reckon 
 if you saw me in some moods you 'd change yo' 
 mind. Roger could tell you but he never will, 
 that 's one comfort." 
 
 They were walking instead of riding to the Fort 
 to-day, and they moved along the quiet road in 
 silence for a time. 
 
 " But I 've been wishing," she went on shyly, " if 
 you don't mind, that you 'd tell me a little more 
 about the girl, if you really don't mind." 
 
 " I don't in the least," replied Russell promptly. 
 
 " I thought perhaps you might like to talk about 
 her, you know." 
 
 " I do ; but I did n't want to bore you." 
 
 " I thought perhaps that was it." Betty looked 
 up at him with a smile, and was faintly surprised 
 to find that he, too, was smiling. It would have 
 seemed more fitting to find his countenance over 
 spread with a fine melancholy. 
 
 Miss Archer's eyes were good, and she was an 
 artist. She had observed the fact that nature had 
 so arranged Russell Andreas's countenance that all 
 the expressions she had so far caught were becom 
 ing to it. 
 
 Perhaps he discerned her present critical thought. 
 At all events, he composed his features as he be 
 gan : 
 
 " She is a rather tall girl."
 
 260 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 " That is good. Large men ought not to marry 
 tiny girls, as they so often do, and leave the tall 
 girls to short men." 
 
 " But she is slender and graceful, and has n't 
 the effect of largeness. There is a sort of bright 
 softness about her altogether, even to her voice ; 
 and her manners and movements, well, to me 
 they are simply perfection." 
 
 " She must be lovely," said Miss Archer thought- 
 fully. 
 
 " Hard not to be able to get her, eh ? " 
 
 " Hard ! " The girl looked up at him sympathe 
 tically. " But you have n't told me how she looks 
 yet." 
 
 " No, I 'm afraid I can't. In the first place, I 
 fancy she does n't look to any one else as she does 
 to me ; and, in the second, I can't describe a spirit, 
 and that is what I see in the depths of her eyes and 
 the expression of her lips." 
 
 " How beautifully you love her ! " said Betty 
 gently. " If only there were any other obstacle 
 except the one you mentioned." 
 
 "A wonderful thing has happened," said An 
 dreas, his eyes fixed on the road and his face grave 
 enough now. " Since the night I talked to you 
 about it I have heard that my rival is no more. 
 Moreover, I've -good reason to believe that she 
 was not so deeply attached to him as I thought." 
 
 " Why, Mr. Andreas ! " 
 
 " But she does n't care for me. How does that 
 alter matters ? "
 
 GREEK MEETS GREEK. 261 
 
 " But she will care for you. Give her a little 
 time. Surely you cannot love her in this way for 
 nothing ! " 
 
 " Bless you for those words ! But what would 
 my next step better be? Would you tell her 
 frankly tell her all at once ? " 
 
 " N-no." Betty shook her head judicially. " Give 
 her time to stop thinking about the other one." 
 
 " But I .must bring myself to her notice in some 
 way." 
 
 "Yes you" Russell, watching her nar 
 
 rowly and looking for a straw to cling to, saw her 
 face change. " I reckon it would be better fo' you 
 to go and stay where she is as long as you can," the 
 girl answered slowly. 
 
 There was a ringing in Andreas's ears. She dis 
 liked the thought of his going ! A blind man 
 might discern it. It was a trifling indication, but 
 it was something. 
 
 He crushed down his elation. "Thank you," 
 he said briefly. " I '11 see how business turns. I 
 wonder what took the Dexters off in such a 
 hurry?" 
 
 " They had to go." Miss Archer sighed. 
 " What wiU Eoger say ? " 
 
 This action of the Dexters had removed the last 
 doubt from Betty's mind as to Nathalie's attitude 
 toward Gerard; but as yet she had not come to 
 a peaceful hour with leisure to cogitate upon the 
 pleasant certainty of Roger's future ; and now an
 
 262 MTSS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 unexplained quietness, almost depression, fell upon 
 her spirits, and she allowed her companion to 
 monopolize the conversation until the Fort was 
 reached. 
 
 It was a new Roger, or rather the old one, as 
 sured, calm, with smiling eyes, who came to greet 
 them under the live-oaks. 
 
 The reassurance and pleasure that Betty was 
 conscious she ought to experience in seeing him 
 thus rehabilitated failed to swell her heart. 
 
 " Mr. Andreas thinks I 'm such a nice girl. He 
 ought to see into ma mean soul now," she thought. 
 " Just as soon as I find out that other people are 
 right happy and don't need me, I begin to mope ! " 
 And with this bracing reflection she smiled upon 
 Roger as she put her hand in his. Andreas strolled 
 out of earshot, according to her previous instruc 
 tions. 
 
 "No, she did n't come with us," she answered to 
 the lieutenant's question. " The fact is, she has 
 gone away." 
 
 Gerard's hand fell unconsciously on the hilt of 
 his sword, and he looked stern in his surprise. 
 
 " Certainly I '11 give you satisfaction, if you '11 
 let me have the choice of weapons. I 'm partial to 
 mahl-sticks maself." 
 
 " This is a great surprise," said Gerard, trying 
 to recover himself. " Miss Dexter of course did 
 not know of it last evening." 
 
 " Not until very late in the evening."
 
 GREEK MEETS GREEK. 263 
 
 " They received some sudden news ? " 
 
 " Yes, Nathalie did from me." 
 
 Miss Archer's smiling face, trying hard for its 
 usual demureness, was enigmatical. The band 
 was playing loudly as it marched after the even 
 gait of the drum-major. By the way, government 
 should make an appropriation, if necessary, in 
 order that the field-musicians of Fortress Monroe 
 need not have so forlornly meagre a repertoire. 
 
 Gerard felt an added irritation in the proximity 
 of the band just now with its well-worn chords. 
 
 " Please .don't give me any conundrums, Betty," 
 he said. 
 
 " Confess, then, that it is an important matter 
 to you." 
 
 He looked at her dumbly. 
 
 " You will have to, some time, Roger, if things 
 are with you as I think ; and I don't want to make 
 any blunders." The mischief had died from her 
 sweet face, and her eyes interrogated him affec 
 tionately. 
 
 " No one can take your place. You understand 
 that," he said at last. 
 
 " I should think not," she returned gayly. " As 
 Mr. Andreas says, ' not if I see her first ! ' But," 
 she lowered her voice, " it is that other place we 
 are talking about." 
 
 "Then I do confess it, Betty!" They ex 
 changed a brief hand-clasp, much to the delecta 
 tion of a sixteen-year-old girl near by, who was
 
 264 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 much divided between parade and the eyes of the 
 officer of the day, and thereafter allowed the ranks 
 of artillery-men to present, port, or carry arms 
 without her, while she attended to that lucky girl's 
 delightful flirtation. 
 
 " It is fortunate fo' you that ma tongue is not 
 tied by any confidences on her part," said Betty. 
 
 The officer shook his head humbly. " There 
 were none to make. I am afraid she cares only for 
 her music. Why should she think of me ? " 
 
 " I could find a few reasons, if I took time to it, 
 I fancy ; but she thought, like everybody else, that 
 you were bespoken, until last night. When we 
 came home from the dance I told her how things 
 really were." Miss Archer's eyes were eloquent, 
 as she nodded impressively. 
 
 "Well?" 
 
 " Well, it frightened Miss Muffet away." 
 
 " But why should it ? " earnestly. 
 
 Betty laughed. " I don't know. Do you ? 
 Girls are n't very often afraid of military men." 
 
 " And why should she be afraid of me ? " asked 
 Gerard, much perplexed ; and the question fur 
 nished his companion so much amusement that the 
 sixteen-year-old decided that Roger must be as 
 witty as he was handsome. 
 
 " She did n't say she was," returned the girl at 
 last. " On the contrary, she left her good-by and 
 her regrets just as politely as possible, and never 
 mentioned being: afraid."
 
 GREEK MEETS GREEK. 265 
 
 " Why do you think it is so funny ? " pleaded 
 the lieutenant plaintively. 
 
 " Honestly, Roger, I wonder how any man man 
 ages his own love-affair unless he has some woman 
 to help him ! I 'm as sure as possible that if it 
 were n't fo' me you would take her running off so 
 as a discouraging sign." 
 
 " Indeed I should. And why don't you ? " 
 
 " Because," Betty gave him a wise nod, " that is 
 precisely what I should have done in her place. 
 Suppose she believes she cares for a man who 
 doesn't care fo' her?" 
 
 " Do you think she could imagine that ? " And 
 as Roger uttered the exclamation Miss Archer saw 
 for the first time a flash of what those eyes of his 
 could express. 
 
 " Of course, dear. Have you forgotten your 
 own loyalty ? " 
 
 " I see. I 'm unbalanced. I have lost count of 
 common sense as well as time of late. Betty," 
 with sudden grateful fervor, " you trump, you sis 
 ter, you angel! " 
 
 " Ahem ! " coughed Andreas behind his hand. 
 He had come up in time to hear the close of this 
 apostrophe ; and the sixteen-year-old, who had just 
 succeeded in getting her attention back to parade, 
 began to experience all the delicious despair in 
 duced by a three-ringed circus. 
 
 " Come back, come back ! " laughed Betty, as 
 Russell turned away. " Roger is only practicing 
 on me."
 
 266 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 Andreas was anxious for an opportunity to speak 
 with his friend alone, and a little later it came. 
 Betty recognized an acquaintance whom she wished 
 to greet, and the two men were left to them 
 selves. 
 
 " Well, how goes it, Rusty ? " asked the lieu 
 tenant. 
 
 " Don't know. I am thinking of following Miss 
 Dexter's example. I 've been hanging about here 
 some time. Now I think I '11 see if out of sight 
 proves to be out of mind." 
 
 " And supposing it does ! " 
 
 " Supposing it does ? " Andreas gave an excla 
 mation. " Then you can wager your existence I 
 will get back into sight in short order." 
 
 " Want me to keep you posted ? " 
 
 Russell smiled. " Do you fancy you would find 
 out anything ? Well, you are green ! " 
 
 This jeer appeared to please Gerard. He looked 
 thoughtfully off into space. " I believe I am, 
 Rusty ; I hope I am." 
 
 " That is a modest ambition, I 'm sure," returned 
 the other ; " but I think I understand. I know 
 you 're in the same boat with me. I never should 
 have found it out, though, if it hadn't been for 
 Miss Archer Archer." 
 
 " She is a wonderful girl," observed Gerard, 
 with conviction. 
 
 "Now you're talking," returned his friend. 
 
 " This is a queer business, Rusty." The lieuten-
 
 GREEK MEETS GREEK. 267 
 
 ant's voice expressed perplexity, even awe. " This 
 being captured heart and soul by another human 
 being is a very queer business." 
 
 " I 'm finding it so. With Mr. Gilbert, 
 
 ' The pain that is almost a pleasure I 'd change 
 For the pleasure that 's almost pain,' 
 
 if I had the chance. But that will be as the 
 wonderful girl decrees. Don't make the mistake 
 of trying to help me in this, Roger. Hands off, 
 please. You'd make a mess of it." 
 
 " I 'm sure I should," agreed Gerard with much 
 humility. " Rusty, would you mind telling me," 
 the speaker's eyes expressed the gravest interro 
 gation, " how it happened that you did n't fall in 
 love with Miss Dexter ? " 
 
 Andreas smiled broadly and gestured with his 
 head toward a great live-oak beneath which Betty 
 and her friend were talking. " There 's the rea 
 son." 
 
 " But up at the Pulpit ? Betty was n't there." 
 
 " I don't know. Too much Owski, perhaps ; or 
 perhaps your good angel was holding my eyes. I 
 suspect, though, that I had taken one too many 
 voyages up the Potomac." 
 
 " You did n't know it then, though." 
 
 "Not a bit of it. I considered myself fire 
 proof. Oh, see here ! Mrs. Archer has been 
 bullyragging the wonderful girl on your account." 
 
 " I feared that," said Gerard, his far-away look
 
 268 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 suddenly focusing itself on his friend's face with 
 an alert expression. 
 
 " And after laying her low she came out under 
 the trees and executed a war-dance around me." 
 
 " On what score ? " 
 
 " On the score of making you jealous." An 
 dreas smiled appreciatively. 
 
 " I did try to be jealous of you," said Gerard, 
 with such seriousness that his friend laughed 
 aloud. 
 
 The lieutenant paid no attention to his mirth. 
 " I must settle all that. I shall have to have a 
 talk with Mrs. Archer." 
 
 "No need of it. I have forestalled you. If 
 you want to see a middle-aged lady of florid com 
 plexion enacting the role of Mary's little lamb, 
 come over to Edgewater." 
 
 " How did you do it ? " 
 
 " Oh, represented you and myself as guardians 
 of Miss Archer Archer's peace, and then tried her 
 own weapons. Bullied her, in fact. Took away 
 her tomahawk, twitched her war-lock, and generally 
 browbeat her." 
 
 " Good. But will it last ? " 
 
 " I think so. I 'm going to leave you on guard 
 for a month, and then perhaps I shall come back. 
 Miss Archer Archer knows nothing of the modus, 
 and therefore is almost frightened by the metamor 
 phosis in her stepmother. . Don't tell her anything. 
 Here she comes now, so look pleasant, and wink 
 as much as you please."
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 A MIGRATION. 
 
 DEAR MRS. DEXTER, It 's only two weeks since 
 that pleasant morning when you and Nathalie went 
 away, but it seems much longer.' I have missed 
 you more than I can tell. To make things more 
 lonely still,. Mr. Andreas left us a couple of days 
 after you did. His departure was sudden, like 
 yours, but he had good reasons for going, and I 
 was glad to see him do his duty, though I 'm sure 
 he hated to leave. He is a very fine young man, 
 I think, though light in his talk. 
 
 I have some sad news that will surprise you. 
 Miss Betty's engagement to Mr. Gerard is broken. 
 They don't act as if it was sad to them, though it 
 can't be denied they are quieter in their ways, Miss 
 Betty especially ; but that is only respectful to the 
 past, as I look at it. However they feel, it evi 
 dently has been a crushing blow to Mrs. Archer. 
 She don't act like the same woman. If she should 
 rear and tear around I would n't be surprised, but 
 she 's so quiet and peaceable, I don't know what to 
 make of it. Sometimes I wonder if Mr. Gerard 
 has n't scared her into not saying anything ; for 
 she feels it just as sure as this world. He comes
 
 270 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 over here just the same, and smiles as pleasant as 
 ever when he says " good-evening " at three o'clock 
 in the afternoon. There are some Southern ways 
 that will always seein queer to me. 
 
 If I was Betty Archer, I should about lose my 
 reason to lose him. I shall always like red stripes 
 for his sake. He 's got the nicest ways and looks 
 ever I saw. He 's the kind of man would make a 
 woman happy, if she had to live alone with him on 
 top of Pike's Peak. And yet Miss Betty paints 
 away as calm as ever, and laughs with him as 
 hearty as if everything was all right. He don't 
 seem worried a mite, either. It beats me ; and 
 it 's just knocked Mrs. Archer I was going to 
 use slang and say silly, but I won't, I '11 say decent, 
 for she is real decent, and don't poke her nose 
 into anything. 
 
 I have n't made up my mind yet whether I shall 
 come North this summer. Most likely I could if I 
 wanted to. Business will be light here. 
 
 I wish you and Nathalie could make a plan to 
 come again. I did enjoy your being here. 
 
 Shall always be pleased to get a line from you. 
 Don't let Nathalie practice too much in the warm 
 weather. Always your friend, 
 
 PKISCILLA TOOTHAKER. 
 
 This letter found the Dexters at a hotel in Bos 
 ton. Mrs. Dexter read it and passed it to Natha 
 lie in silence. Then she broke the seal of another
 
 A MIGRATION. 271 
 
 and read it while her daughter was absorbing Miss 
 Priscilla's underscored sentences. 
 
 " That is good advice, not to let you work too 
 hard this summer," said Mrs. Dexter when the 
 girl finally looked up ; " and what do you suppose 
 I have here ? A note from Cousin Rebecca, who 
 says that at the last minute another summer at her 
 dear cottage is slipping through her fingers. She 
 cannot go to Pulpit Point, and offers the cottage 
 to us." 
 
 Nathalie's face brightened. "Let us accept it." 
 
 Mrs. Dexter looked doubtful, and though she 
 did not speak, Nathalie read her thoughts. 
 
 " Mr. Andreas invited his friend in my hearing 
 to come there," she explained calmly, " and Mr. 
 Gerard refused. He said he could not get another 
 leave this summer." 
 
 " But the associations?" suggested Mrs. Dexter 
 gently. 
 
 Her daughter approached and kissed her. " You 
 are too tender of me, mother dear. Are you wor 
 rying about me ? " 
 
 " I am a little." 
 
 " But I 'm not pining." Nathalie slipped down 
 on her knees and looked smiling into her mother's 
 eyes. "I am glad of all that has come to me, and 
 you must not regret it either. To think of seeing 
 the Pulpit again, and Cap'n Levi and with you ! 
 We will be so happy ! " 
 
 And Mrs. Dexter, cheered by this spontaneous
 
 272 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 burst, hoped that the zest of life was returning to 
 them both. 
 
 Nathalie had written once to Betty Archer since 
 leaving Edgewater, and received a prompt reply ; 
 but she had not written again. She was through 
 with Virginia and Virginians. She knew she 
 could not forget the two who had entered so deeply 
 into her life, and she felt that no other man or 
 woman could ever so touch the quick of her affec 
 tions ; but she longed that the sensitiveness of her 
 memory might be deadened by time. She would 
 do nothing to keep it vivid. 
 
 Roger Gerard had made no sign since last she 
 saw him. If she had vaguely hoped for a differ 
 ent effect of her flight, she had given no expression 
 either to the expectation or the disappointment. 
 
 It was early in July that mother and daughter 
 took possession of the cottage at Pulpit Point. 
 Nathalie, ignoring the dull throbs of feeling that 
 sights and sounds evoked, seized Mrs. Dexter's 
 hand and drew her from window to window to ex 
 claim over the noble views. She pointed out the 
 Andreas cottage ; she led her mother over hum 
 mock and through pitfall down to the Pulpit and 
 made her mount its height ; and she proudly ex 
 hibited Cap'n Levi. 
 
 " What ye done with Miss Toothaker ? " asked 
 the captain after the greetings had passed. 
 
 " Left her down South among the roses," replied 
 Nathalie.
 
 A MIGRATION. 273 
 
 " That 's clever," remarked the old man. If he 
 felt that life would have been quite as peaceful had 
 Nathalie also remained among the roses, he did 
 not let it appear. Her pleasure was disarming, 
 even though he foresaw another piano-moving. 
 
 " Nawthin' but wild roses he-ar," he continued. 
 
 " They 're good enough for me," she responded 
 
 gayly. 
 
 Nevertheless, she was struck with the bleakness 
 and barrenness of Pulpit Point after the luxuriant 
 vegetation of Edgewater. 
 
 The crisp, salt coolness of the air here smote her 
 cheek, and she recalled the simile Miss Toothaker 
 had used one morning in the pavilion. 
 
 " As much difference in this air and the Pulpit's 
 as between a banana and a cucumber," she had 
 said. 
 
 The moon used to rise at Edgewater behind 
 massive boughs, through which the silvery water 
 gleamed. Here nothing intervened between sea 
 and rugged shore. 
 
 " This is the tonic I need," thought Nathalie. 
 " It is my native heath. The balsam fir is better 
 for me than the magnolia. I need bay instead of 
 roses. I am a wiser girl than I was a year ago." 
 
 The whole of that first day she was occupied in 
 recalling her gaze from the large boulder at the 
 right of the house. 
 
 " Very well," she said to herself at last, with 
 determination, " I will break that spell." Then
 
 274 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 she walked deliberately to the boulder in the sun 
 set light, and rested her hand on its lichens. 
 
 At her feet on its further side was a strip of 
 grass a few feet wide and the length of a man, 
 different in color and depth from the surrounding 
 verdure. Her heart beat in unexpected tumult. 
 
 " It is as if it were a grave," she thought ; " and 
 it is it is a grave ! " 
 
 There was a sudden rush of tears to her eyes, 
 and she turned in the sunset glow and hurried 
 back toward the house. 
 
 Her mother from her stand on the piazza was 
 watching her. 
 
 " Kun down to that bay bush and bring me a 
 bunch of it, will you, dear ? " she called to the girl. 
 
 Of all mind-readers, mothers are the least apt 
 to be mistaken. 
 
 There was plenty to do to put the cottage in 
 order, and Nathalie knew where everything was, 
 for she and Miss Toothaker had put all away. 
 
 On the second busy day she was arranging bric- 
 abrac in the living-room, when a familiar voice at 
 the door cried : 
 
 " Hello the house ! " 
 
 " Already ! " Nathalie turned her pleased face 
 and greeted Russell Andreas, who seemed to fill 
 the room as he came into it. 
 
 " How do you do, Miss Nathalie ? How do you 
 do, Mrs. Dexter ? " He shook hands with them 
 both, and the three seated themselves in a group.
 
 A MIGRATION. 275 
 
 " I was delighted to hear you were at the Pulpit 
 again. You must be kind to my mother, Mrs. 
 Dexter. She does n't get out, and I want her to 
 know you. You will do her lots of good. It 
 seems as if Miss Pris ought to be about here some 
 where, does n't it? Do you hear from her ? " 
 
 " We have had one letter," replied Mrs. Dexter, 
 " but she speaks as if she might stay in Virginia." 
 
 " Indeed ? " Andreas turned toward Nathalie. 
 " And what is the latest from Miss Archer 
 Archer ? " 
 
 " The latest and earliest are one. We have 
 only exchanged one little letter since we parted. 
 I'm afraid neither of us likes to write." 
 
 Nathalie wondered how much feeling lay behind 
 the bright attentiveness of his countenance. It had 
 occurred to her that this young man might have 
 had an influence in Betty Archer's love affair. 
 
 The sight of him now in his outing clothes re 
 called last summer too vividly. She was sorry he 
 had come ; sorry he would make her task of for 
 getting so much harder. Each moment she was 
 dreading, yet longing, to hear him mention Gerard. 
 The only reference that had been made to him 
 since she came North was the little sentence in 
 Betty's letter which mentioned Roger's regret at 
 her sudden disappearance. Amiable, courteous 
 Betty could not have said less. 
 
 " Oh, I 'm disappointed in you, Miss Nathalie," 
 said Andreas. " I was hoping you would be the
 
 276 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 tie that binds the North to the South. Gerard 
 and I have for a long time relied on the philosophy 
 of thought transference for our communications." 
 
 " You are such a transcendental creature," re 
 marked Nathalie. 
 
 " Don't laugh at me. Remember how sensitive 
 my feelings are. Then I 'm afraid you can't help 
 me either, Mrs. Dexter. I fear you cannot give 
 me news of my valued friend, Mrs. Archer." 
 
 Mrs. Dexter smiled. " I fear I can't except 
 at second-hand. Miss Toothaker says she is is 
 improving." 
 
 " Did any one think there was room for improve 
 ment ? " asked Russell. " As I say, I am far from 
 being a complete letter-writer ; but when it came 
 to separation from Mrs. Archer, I discovered that 
 indeed ' Love will find a way.' I gathered myself 
 together for a mighty effort, and I wrote her a 
 letter." 
 
 " Indeed ? Did she reply ? " 
 
 " Reply ? " Andreas smiled consciously upon 
 Mrs. Dexter, then lowered his eyes and bit his lip 
 in coy embarrassment. " You evidently do not 
 comprehend the state of affairs between Mrs. 
 Archer and me. She did indeed reply, beguiling- 
 creature, since when I have written her again." 
 
 " A remarkable case of devotion," said Nathalie. 
 " It would be interesting to know what you are 
 after." 
 
 Andreas regarded her reproachfully. "Is it
 
 A MIGRATION. 277 
 
 difficult to see what I was after? I have been 
 asking Mrs. Archer to come to the Pulpit. I want 
 to stray with her in the forest, to guide her steps 
 down the rocky ravines ; to support her delicate 
 form among the rioting waves. I must, to be 
 happy, I must have Mrs. Archer here during 
 the next moon, to sit with her, shielded from the 
 wind, among the rocky ledges, and watch the 
 masses of white foam break at our feet." 
 
 " And your mother so delicate ! " said Nathalie 
 accusingly. 
 
 Andreas, smiled rather guiltily. " She can stand 
 it for a fortnight. Beside, my dear ladies both," 
 with new courage, "you have never seen Mrs. 
 Archer on her good behavior. You remember 
 what Miss Pris told you of her improvement? 
 Well, I did that, all with my little hatchet. I 
 assure you with pardonable pride that I accom 
 plished that reform ! " 
 
 " What did you do, Mr. Andreas ? " asked 
 Nathalie, with lively interest. 
 
 He gave her an impressive look. " As if I 
 should tell any one ! Why, supposing the mission 
 ary societies were to get hold of it : do you suppose 
 I should be allowed to remain in the insurance 
 business ? Not a day ! I should be packed off 
 bag and baggage among the savages, where my 
 humanizing powers could have scope." 
 
 Nathalie gazed at him thoughtfully. " Do you 
 believe Betty will come ? "
 
 278 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 " Betty ? " Mr. Andreas frowned and appeared 
 to tax his memory. " Betty ? Oh, yes ! I re 
 member now. Mrs. Archer has a stepdaughter. 
 Yes, I think if my friend conies she will bring Miss 
 Archer Archer. It would n't be exactly safe to 
 leave her at home." 
 
 "Not safe for Mrs. Archer, surely," remarked 
 Miss Dexter dryly. 
 
 When Russell had by slow and easy stages 
 finally left mother and daughter by themselves, 
 Mrs. Dexter spoke : 
 
 " There, you see, Nathalie ! " 
 
 " But I don't mind," returned the girl quickly. 
 "Mr. Andreas will absorb Betty. I shall have 
 my practicing. It will only be for two weeks." 
 
 "Perhaps. I think this looks decidedly as if 
 dear Betty had a new lover." 
 
 Nathalie's piano came soon, and she threw her 
 self into her work again with abandon, and con 
 scious of her mother's devoted espionage, she 
 assumed a cheerfulness and interest in the small 
 happenings of their daily life which served a double 
 purpose ; for Mrs. Dexter became more and more 
 reassured, and we all know that conscientiously to 
 assume a virtue, even if one has it not, brings that 
 virtue ever nearer. 
 
 One day Russell broke in upon her practicing, 
 some excitement changing his ordinarily impertur 
 bable manner. 
 
 " She is coming this morning ! " he exclaimed.
 
 A MIGRATION. 279 
 
 Nathalie wheeled around on the stool. " Oh, 
 yes," she smiled at him. " Mrs. Archer." 
 
 "Yes. Won't you go to the boat with me? 
 You know mother " 
 
 " Certainly I will be your mother pro tern. ; but 
 wouldn't you rather have mine? It would be 
 more appropriate, would n't it to meet Mrs. 
 Archer, you know?" 
 
 So Nathalie laughingly set out with the expec 
 tant young, man, who would have been very much 
 surprised to suspect with what effort she was steel 
 ing herself for this meeting. And she again would 
 have been all sympathy had she known the palpi 
 tation that was agitating Betty's breast out there 
 on the steamer, already plainly visible, threading 
 its way among the islands of Casco Bay. 
 
 The girl was half ill with the excitement of her 
 novel journey and its goal. Her stepmother had 
 had to use considerable persuasion to convince her 
 that this trip was feasible and best ; but ably aided 
 by Roger, she had carried the day after the recep 
 tion of a touching note from Mrs. Andreas, who 
 called herself one of the " shut-ins " and expressed 
 a keen longing to know her son's friends. 
 
 Mrs. Archer's walk and conversation had con 
 tinued so placable that Betty never ceased to 
 marvel and be glad ; but now, with the shores of 
 Pulpit Point indicated to her, she turned to her 
 stepmother for a last warning, which she did not 
 dare to neglect.
 
 280 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 " You used to feel quite strongly about Mr. An- 
 dreas's attentions to me," she said. " I feel as if I 
 cert'nly ought to remind you again that he is very 
 devoted to another girl. I have an idea that the 
 chief reason he is glad to have me come is to talk 
 to me about her. It 's natural he should n't like 
 to write it." 
 
 And Mrs. Archer, on her way to be a guest be 
 neath the roof of an Andreas, and secure in her 
 knowledge, was doubly intrenched in good be 
 havior, and made answer most soothing : 
 
 " I understand quite well, my dear. Don't fear 
 that I shall disturb you in any way." 
 
 Nathalie and Russell were ready with waving 
 handkerchiefs as soon as the passengers' faces were 
 distinguishable ; and the length of time it took for 
 the boat to make her landing seemed more tedious 
 than usual. 
 
 To Nathalie's fancy there was something exotic 
 about Betty's sweet, grave face, so far from its 
 proper environment. The road had never looked 
 so grim, the hill so bare. Cap'n Levi's voice had 
 never sounded so strident ; but while Miss Archer 
 Archer evidently wondered, it was with an eager 
 interest. 
 
 " I reckon still it 's all a dream," she said, as at 
 last Nathalie embraced her. 
 
 Andreas gave a quick, low bow and a hand-shake 
 to his elder guest; and then Miss Dexter dis 
 covered that it was indeed Mrs. Archer she had
 
 A MIGRATION. 281 
 
 come to meet, and she passively allowed herself 
 to be packed into Cap'n Levi's wagon with her 
 erstwhile foe and started off, while Russell and 
 Betty walked slowly up the hill. 
 
 " This is so good of you," he said with satisfac 
 tion. " Now suspend all judgment of us till you 
 get to the cottages. We 're not pretty ; we are 
 grand." 
 
 " Yo 're still our modest Mr. Andreas," she an 
 swered. 
 
 He stepped to the roadside and gathered a hand 
 ful of the large daisies that abounded. 
 
 " Even the daisies are n't modest here," he re 
 plied, as he offered them to her. " So what can 
 you expect ? " 
 
 She tucked the blossoms in her belt and looked 
 about her. "This is all so different. I cert'nly 
 am in a new world." 
 
 " I hope it will be a satisfactory one." 
 
 " We think you were very, very good to ask us, 
 so does Roger ; but I know I have a charm fo' 
 you. I 'in yo' confidante-in-chief , am I not ? " 
 
 She gave him a quick smile and turn of the 
 head. 
 
 " Yes. Oh, yes." 
 
 " I suppose you have lots to tell me." 
 
 " I have that." Andreas heaved an involuntary 
 sigh, and then he smiled down upon her. "But 
 I '11 let you get your bearings first. We have 
 plenty of time, plenty of time."
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 BESIDE THE BOULDER. 
 
 MRS. DEXTER and Nathalie met a number of 
 domestic problems, which could so well be solved 
 by Miss Toothaker's presence that that efficient 
 person was finally summoned, and so managed 
 her affairs that a very few days after the reception 
 of Mrs. Dexter's telegram, she was again moving 
 about the cottage at Pulpit Point. 
 
 " I declare for it, don't time fly ? " she demanded 
 of Nathalie. " Who 'd think 't was a year sincie 
 Mr. Gerard fenced that grass for me ! Has n't it 
 come up good this year? It does seem a shame 
 he shouldn't be here now. He's the only one 
 lackin'." 
 
 Of course Russell Andreas was early in his wel 
 come of the housekeeper. 
 
 " Well ! " she exclaimed, as she came one morn 
 ing to the kitchen window, where he had paused. 
 
 " I knew where to find my charmer," he said, 
 removing his cap and putting in his hand to take 
 the loose and brief shake Miss Toothaker accorded 
 him. 
 
 " Ain't this great? I did n't much think when 
 the Archers started off I 'd be followin' 'em up so 
 close," she remarked, smiling.
 
 BESIDE THE BOULDER. 283 
 
 " You must excuse my not being at the dock to 
 welcome you, Miss Pris, but Miss Archer and I 
 were away fishing just at the time of your arrival." 
 
 " Oh, you were, were you ? How 's Mrs. Archer? 
 Broke loose yet ? " 
 
 Russell grinned broadly. " I can't think what 
 you mean by referring in such terms to the mildest- 
 mannered lady of my acquaintance." 
 
 " I know. Mild as a moonbeam, ain't she ? 
 Well, it gets me. All I could think of when she 
 turned around so was that place in my grand 
 mother's primer where it told about 
 ' Young Obadias, 
 David, and Josias, 
 All was pious.' 
 
 That woman 's got somethin' possessin' her mind ; 
 and I don't believe it 's religion. Just as sure as 
 you 're standin' there, Mr. Gerard could tell what 
 it is if he wanted to ; " and Miss Toothaker gave 
 a nod and a prodigious wink which contorted the 
 whole left side of her face. 
 
 " You think he tamed the shrew ? " 
 
 " I do." Miss Priscilla stood regarding her 
 handsome visitor, her hand on her hip. " See 
 here, Mr. Andreas ! I have n't got chick nor child, 
 nor even folks, much of any, that belong to me. 
 'T ain't wonderful if I think a good deal about 
 Nathalie and Miss Betty and you, is it ? I 've 
 thought a number o' times o' the Way I talked to 
 you under the locust-tree that day, and I've de-
 
 284 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 sired to speak of it. When that engagement 
 melted, as you might say, there did n't seem to be 
 much break about it, so soon after you 'd gone, 
 I seemed to myself pretty meddlesome. What 
 earthly good did your goin' do ; and what call did 
 I have to put in my oar, anyway ? Have you for 
 given me ? " 
 
 " Of course, Miss Pris. You did quite right." 
 
 " Ain't you clever ! " returned Miss Toothaker 
 gratefully. " When you sent down for the Arch 
 ers," she went on, " I made sure Mrs. Archer would 
 sort o' act up she was so down on you that spell 
 when she tackled me in the butt'ry ; but instead o' 
 r'arin', she was as pleased as Punch ; and 1 must 
 say, Mr. Andreas, though it may sound pryin', 
 your sendin' for 'em did look pointed to me ; it 
 did so." 
 
 " I want to know, Miss Pris ! " 
 
 "You're laughin' at me. Well, laugh away. 
 But I ain't the fool I look ; and I 'm goin' to warn 
 you right here and now that madam has her eye 
 on you ! " 
 
 " Not this minute ! " 
 
 " Her mind's eye, yes. You see, what worries 
 me is that Miss Betty evidently ain't the marryin' 
 kind ; 'cause a girl that could have Mr.. Gerard 
 and did n't " - 
 
 " Look here, Miss Pris, you will drive me to do 
 Gerard a bodily hurt." 
 
 Miss Toothaker waved the interruption aside.
 
 BESIDE THE BOULDER. 285 
 
 " she evidently don't want to be married. Now, 
 I said to myself when you sent for the Archers, 
 ' Mr. Andreas maybe don't mean anything by this 
 invitation, or maybe he does ; ' 'cause of course I 
 know that some time when you try to flirt your 
 wings as usual and fly away, you 're goin' to find 
 yourself held tight and fast, and you '11 realize 
 you 're caught. Well, as I was say in', I thought 
 maybe you was caught now, and maybe you 
 was n't ; but I saw Mrs. Archer calc'lated you 
 was. And, Mr. Andreas, you listen to me." Miss 
 Priscilla gestured impressively. " If nothin' comes 
 o' this fishin', and sailin', and walkin', you 've begun 
 on now, you 're goin' to see one o' the biggest 
 backslides from reform that ever was known in 
 this world. It '11 be a reg'lar landslide, Mrs. 
 Archer's will. I don't care whether it 's your 
 fault, or whether it 's Miss Betty's, the result will 
 be the same." 
 
 " Miss Pris, you grieve and terrify me. Per 
 haps you will tell me what your penetration dis 
 covered in Miss Archer's manner on the reception 
 of my mother's invitation ? " 
 
 " Yes, I will. I think it 's only right I should. 
 I discovered a good deal of reluctance ; yes, sir. 
 That girl will have a good time now she 's here ; 
 but I can tell you Mrs. Archer pulled, and Mr. 
 Gerard shoved well, before they could get her out 
 of Edge water." 
 
 Andreas looked genuinely disconcerted.
 
 286 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 " I say ! " he returned. " You don't spare a 
 fellow's vanity." 
 
 " Well, a girl who would n't have Mr. Gerard " 
 
 "Oh" Andreas swung away from the win 
 dow, and the latter part of his ejaculation was 
 indistinct as he strode away. 
 
 Miss Toothaker started in a listening attitude, 
 and pursed up her lips in horror. " I think that 
 was a very bad word," she murmured. After a 
 minute she turned to the stove and ladled out some 
 hot water into a pan in the sink, and a smile stole 
 gradually over her face. 
 
 " He 's in earnest ! " she said, with a little nod. 
 
 She stooped and opened the oven door. " As if 
 I did n't know why Betty Archer hung back about 
 comin' ! " Here she poked the loaves of cake 
 therein with a broom straw ; but the operation 
 seemed to tickle her more than it did them, for she 
 threw back her head in a noiseless laugh. 
 
 Several quiet days passed by, very happily to 
 Miss Priscilla, who especially enjoyed making 
 people comfortable whom she loved as she did the 
 Dexters. 
 
 " It 's interestin' to watch the changes that take 
 place in young folks," she said one day to Mrs. 
 Dexter. " Nathalie 's just as different from what 
 she was a year ago as can be." 
 
 " In what way? " asked the mother quickly. 
 
 " We-ell it 's hard tellin'. She 's quieter and 
 sweeter oh, riper, you know."
 
 BESIDE THE BOULDER. 287 
 
 " You like the change, then ? " 
 
 "Yes, I like it. I liked her when she was 
 friskier, too. How her heart is all wrapped up in 
 her music ! It does seem 's if she begrudged goin' 
 off with Mr. Andreas and Miss Betty ; but Miss 
 Betty just won't take ' No ' for an answer." Miss 
 Toothaker nudged her companion and lowered her 
 voice. " There 's safety in numbers, you know ; " 
 and then she winked in a knowing manner that 
 made Mrs. Dexter smile. 
 
 " I see ; but it is scarcely pleasant for Nathalie 
 sometimes, although she says Mr. Andreas is al 
 ways jolly and cordial. Ah, here you are, my 
 dear," as Nathalie entered the room, flushed from 
 a long walk. " We were just speaking of you." 
 
 " Yes," said Miss Priscilla. " I think it is an 
 excellent thing that Miss Betty is here to keep you 
 away from the piano so much. This is vacation." 
 
 Nathalie smiled, and proceeded to hang her cap 
 in a curtained corner of the room. " I have told 
 them not to dare come near me this afternoon," 
 she announced. " They are the worst thieves of 
 time I ever knew. I can't study, I can't read, I 
 can't practice ; and in short, I have struck." 
 
 " It has been fine for you," returned her mother. 
 " I am not afraid of your being too lazy." 
 
 " I 'm so hungry, Miss Priscilla ! Where 's 
 dinner ? " 
 
 " 'Most ready. Corned cod and drawn butter, 
 and blueberry pie."
 
 288 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 " Oh, fine ! Meanwhile I '11 get some ginger 
 ale." Nathalie disappeared into the cellar and 
 shortly returned with several small bottles, which 
 she took to the primitive sideboard in the living- 
 room, and emptied, hissing, into glasses. 
 
 " Here, Miss Priscilla ! " she called ; and the 
 housekeeper, a clean towel over her arm, came in 
 to join her. 
 
 " Prosit ! " said Nathalie, waving her own brim 
 ming glass toward the others. 
 
 " Here 's prosperity to Mr. Andreas," suggested 
 Mrs. Dexter. 
 
 " Agreed ! " replied Nathalie. 
 
 "All right," said Miss Toothaker ; "but I'm 
 goin' to drink to Mr. Gerard, all alone down there 
 in Virginia." 
 
 "It's a touching case of loneliness," remarked 
 Nathalie ; and she drank her ale with such a relish 
 and ate her dinner subsequently with such cheer 
 ful appetite and conversation, that Mrs. Dexter 
 thanked God in her heart that good and whole 
 some times had come to them. 
 
 After dinner came the hour respected throughout 
 the cottage element at the Pulpit as sacred to naps. 
 Nathalie, perforce detained throughout it from her 
 piano, took a book to a hammock, intending to 
 read, but succeeded, as usual, only in watching the 
 sea and its life. 
 
 She had cultivated her day-dreams away from 
 dangerous localities. When her thoughts wan-
 
 BESIDE THE BOULDER. 289 
 
 dered in forbidden lines, she at once began to 
 conjugate an irregular French verb. Miss Dexter 
 was eminently practical for a musician. 
 
 When sounds in the house liberated her at last, 
 she went to the piano, and worked there till nearly 
 teatime. Then she ran down to the Pulpit for a 
 while. 
 
 How she enjoyed being alone ! " It is a feeling 
 that is growing on me," she thought, " and I must 
 not allow it." But she knew that the desire to be 
 convincingly natural and cheerful in her mother's 
 presence was the secret of this new preference. 
 
 After tea she went again to the piano, and played 
 until the sun was ready to fall behind the distant 
 blue mountains. 
 
 " Come out, dear. Come out for this sight," 
 said her mother at the window. " How Betty must 
 be enjoying it ! " 
 
 The full moon had just risen, and the setting 
 sun's light suffused the great disk with rose color. 
 
 Nathalie stood, her arm around her mother, and 
 watched it shining above water that shaded from 
 purple to bronze. 
 
 " How beautiful the world is ! " she said. 
 
 The two stood there in silence, looking out on 
 the scene for minutes, until the rose tints had all 
 faded. 
 
 At last Mrs. Dexter went into the house to write 
 a letter, and Nathalie was again alone. 
 
 There were no trees here to cast swaying shad-
 
 290 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 ows under the full moon. Only the great boulder 
 flung a long, dark curtain upon the grass. Down 
 among the ledges the Pulpit rose black against the 
 corrugated pathway of bright silver that led straight 
 to the horizon. Nathalie looked toward it hesitat 
 ingly, but her feet stepping down from the piazza, 
 carried her slowly toward the boulder. 
 
 The air was soft with the mildness which, after 
 sunset, so strangely succeeds to the keen winds of 
 day in this locality. As Nathalie neared the rock 
 she heard Betty's laugh, and then Andreas's voice. 
 They were probably coming for her. With an 
 involuntary quick movement she sprang into the 
 shadow of the boulder, and sank down against the 
 gray moss. 
 
 She saw her friends go up to the cottage door, 
 and, after a minute's talk, turn away, and move 
 through the rough pasture toward the sea. 
 
 " Mother has probably suggested that I am down 
 at the Pulpit," she thought, and she remained in 
 her dusky nook until their figures had disappeared. 
 " Betty may want me, but I am certain that Mr. 
 Andreas will be consolable in their fruitless 
 search." 
 
 She smiled in satisfaction at her escape, and rose 
 from her hiding-place. There was a niche in the 
 boulder large enough for a seat, and she moved 
 around the end of the rock to seek it. Here she 
 would sit and revel in the vast outlook, and if 
 necessary, conjugate a French verb !
 
 BESIDE THE BOULDER. 291 
 
 She had her hand upon the lichens ready for a 
 spring into the high niche, when her eyes strayed 
 from habit toward the close-lying stretch of turf 
 which had so often held her audience of one. 
 
 A flood of moonlight poured upon the spot. The 
 girl's grasp tightened upon the mosses, and her 
 other hand sought the rock for support. Had her 
 heart held one image until it evoked visions ? She 
 was so startled that faintness almost overpowered 
 her ; for there in the flood of moonlight lay, or 
 seemed to lie, Roger Gerard, at full length at her 
 feet. 
 
 His outing-cap was off, his head supported on 
 his arm, and he was sound asleep. 
 
 Nathalie, her heart beating heavily, leaned 
 against the rock and gazed at him. It was he 
 it was really he ; and only a minute ago she had 
 been fearing even to let her thoughts dwell on him 
 in this entrancing night. 
 
 She summoned her strength and her wits. What 
 did his presence mean ? He had missed Betty too 
 much after all ? He had followed her ? 
 
 No, it was scarcely possible. 
 
 Then, if that were not possible, what had he 
 come for? 
 
 Oh, the divine sweetness that poured into Na 
 thalie's heart and brain as she gazed down into 
 the unconscious, still face. Had he cared for her 
 after all her, Nathalie Dexter ? Had he even at 
 Edgewater thought of her? Had that been the
 
 292 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 reason why the loss of Betty had been cheerfully 
 sustained ? 
 
 He had secured a leave. He had come up into this 
 out-of-the-way corner of the universe for a purpose, 
 and, leaving his friends, had sought the spot which 
 he had oftentimes declared held an enchantment 
 for him. 
 
 Nathalie remembered how long she had played 
 after tea. He had probably been listening when 
 sleep overtook him. 
 
 Was this a fool's paradise which was enveloping 
 her closer and closer as she realized the tran 
 scendent fact that he was really here in flesh and 
 blood, and that after a while he would waken and 
 speak to her ? Why should she expect anything ? 
 Why should she ? Nothing was proved ; nothing. 
 
 Her heart beat fast as she strove with herself, 
 exulting, yet questioning, and her eyes were fixed 
 upon his face with an attraction under which no 
 man could have remained unconscious. The sleeper 
 stirred. The girl felt a sudden wild desire to fly, 
 but she could not move. 
 
 Gerard slowly withdrew his arm from beneath 
 his head, and his eyelids fluttered and lifted. He 
 saw at his feet Nathalie's slight, erect form, cling 
 ing against the boulder as closely as its own mosses. 
 
 He brushed his hand across his eyes, but the 
 white-clothed vision did not vanish. With quick 
 bewilderment he sat up, gazing, then sprang to his 
 feet, dumb.
 
 BESIDE THE BOULDER. 293 
 
 " You can hardly believe it is I," she said in a 
 low tone. " I could hardly believe it was you." 
 
 He took a step toward her. " I was dreaming, 
 dreaming that you were looking at me ; so it 
 seemed all a dream. I have been trying to get to 
 you ever since you left Edge water. I have trav 
 eled fast. The boats are crowded. I had no sleep 
 last night, so you forgive me ? I came right from 
 the boat here ! " 
 
 He was off his guard. The spontaneous acts 
 and words of dreamland had not had time to be 
 supplanted by the conventions of waking hours. 
 
 His manner and tone were enough. Nathalie's 
 doubts vanished. An ineffable sweetness crept 
 about her lips, and her bright head leaned slowly 
 against the rock, as if swayed back beneath the 
 passionate gaze bent upon her. The moment of 
 tender ecstasy would be with her forever. 
 
 She could see in his face, in his attitude, that 
 he doubted the outcome of his quest ; and she did 
 not stop to congratulate herself upon this ; instead, 
 the heavenly gladness that she could give to him 
 flooded her soul. 
 
 "Then Mr. Andreas does not know you have 
 come yet ? " she asked after a period during which 
 he seemed satisfied only to look at her. 
 
 " No ; I shall stay at the hotel. I did not even 
 let them know I was coming. Two guests are 
 enough for that house." 
 
 "It is very uncomfortable at the hotel," said
 
 294 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 Nathalie, in the same dreamy and unconventional 
 tone they were both unconsciously using. 
 
 Betty's shrewd suggestions had been present in 
 Gerard's mind every hour since that long-ago day 
 under the live-oaks when she had informed him of 
 Nathalie's sudden departure. Spoken for his com 
 fort Gerard knew they had been, yet Betty seemed 
 sincerely to believe them. Now they echoed in his 
 heart again with Nathalie before him, fair enough 
 in the moonlight to be the embodiment of the 
 thrilling harmonies she interpreted so well. 
 
 She had not offered him her hand. Her manner 
 was certainly out of the ordinary, but 
 
 " I shall not care for physical discomforts, since 
 I have attained getting here," he answered. " Es 
 pecially," he added after a pause, " if you can tell 
 me that you are glad I came." 
 
 She hesitated only an instant. "I am glad," 
 she said. 
 
 Her hands were clasped behind her as she looked 
 up at him. Oh, the glory of the summer night ! 
 
 He came a step nearer still, and her heart flut 
 tered for joy and vague timidity under his eyes. 
 
 "If I knew why you left Edgewater left 
 without speaking to me or sending me a line 
 if I knew that ! " 
 
 He waited ; but the question was too difficult. 
 She did not answer. 
 
 " If I only knew whether the reason concerned 
 me ? " he pursued gently.
 
 BESIDE THE BOULDER. 295 
 
 "But why do you wish to know?" she asked 
 breathlessly. 
 
 " Because I love you so," he answered, his re 
 pressed heart thrilling through the words. 
 
 Her look made him draw her, yielding, from^the 
 rough rock, hardly believing in his own happiness. 
 
 "That was why," she answered, close to his 
 breast. " It was because I loved you so." 
 
 An hour later, Miss Toothaker was sitting alone 
 in the living-room of the cottage, knitting, when 
 Nathalie entered. 
 
 " Where is mother ? " she asked. 
 
 " Upstairs in her room. What 's the matter ? 
 Why, see here, Nathalie Dexter, let me look at 
 you." 
 
 The girl obediently faced about again for the 
 housekeeper's inspection, and well might Miss 
 Priscilla wish to catch a gleam of that radiance 
 which shines on earth but once in a lifetime. 
 
 " I did n't know as you was so good-lookin' ! 
 But you 're kind o' queer, too, as if you 'd been 
 seein' things." 
 
 Nathalie's lips smiled slightly with their secret 
 
 jy- 
 
 " Mr. Gerard is here." 
 " He is ! Why did n't he come in ? " 
 " He will be back soon. He has gone down to 
 the hotel first." 
 
 " He ain't stoppin' at that one-horse tavern ? I
 
 296 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 s'pose the Andreas's cottage is full. Dear me, 
 now ! Don't you think your ma might ask him 
 here ? I 'd just as soon have him as not." 
 
 " You do like him, don't you ? " said the girl, 
 such a tenderness welling up in her voice that Miss 
 Toothaker stared. 
 
 Nathalie returned her gaze for an instant, then 
 turned quickly and ran upstairs. 
 
 Miss Priscilla's knitting was dropped, and she 
 continued to stare after the girl, open-mouthed. 
 Her mental processes were laboring. Finally she 
 picked up her work mechanically and slowly 
 scratched her head with a knitting-needle, while 
 a smile of surprise and gratification stretched one 
 side of her mouth. 
 
 "And that was probably goin' on the whole 
 livin' time," she murmured. " I never once thought 
 of it, not once ; but, land o' liberty, who could run 
 a house and keep track of all such doin's ? " 
 
 She suddenly began knitting with excitement. 
 " If it 's the way I think it is, won't I cook 'em a 
 good dinner to-morrow ! To think Nathalie 's the 
 one that 's got those eyes, after all ! Well, well ! " 
 Her work dropped again as she mused. At last 
 she picked it up, lifting her shoulders and laugh 
 ing to herself. " I don't know who made that 
 match if I did n't ! "
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 ON THE ISLAND. 
 
 BETTY ARCHER, who had known when she left 
 Edgewater that Roger was trying to obtain a leave 
 which circumstances rendered it difficult to obtain, 
 was the only one of the little group not utterly sur 
 prised at the sudden advent of the lieutenant at 
 the Pulpit, and his still more unexpected entrance 
 into the life of the Dexter household. 
 
 " You 've been so sly about it," complained An 
 dreas to Nathalie, as he beamed upon her and 
 squeezed her hand the next day. " Never even 
 told me that Roger was coming, or asked me 
 whether or no you had better say ' Yes.' ' 
 
 And Nathalie, smiling, silently turned to Betty, 
 whose perfect and comprehending sympathy would 
 be one of the chief joys of her life henceforward. 
 
 " I 've wanted a sister so much," the Southern 
 girl had said, " and now I shall have one ! " 
 
 Even Mrs. Archer, who ran over for a minute 
 to offer congratulations, was as effusively gracious 
 as if she had made the match. What wonder ? 
 Entering the Andreas home with every faculty of 
 her being concentrated on the intention to concili 
 ate Russell and to propitiate Mrs. Andreas, she
 
 298 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 had been treated like an honored guest, and had 
 communed to her heart's content on her favorite 
 subject, for her hostess quite agreed with her as to 
 its interest. 
 
 Her closest scrutiny had so far failed to discover 
 any mutual understanding between her step 
 daughter and the man who acknowledged himself 
 the girl's lover. A hundred times a day she was 
 tempted to give a hint that might draw out his in 
 valid mother, and as many times she checked her 
 self; for Russell's suggestion which was much 
 more a command that she should efface herself, 
 still rang in her ears each time she encountered his 
 urbane but masterful glance. 
 
 It was quite true. There was no understanding 
 between Andreas and Miss Archer beyond that of 
 good comradeship. 
 
 " The mischief of it is, I don't want to lose her. 
 I can't lose her," Russell said to the happy lieuten 
 ant, whom he dragged from the Dexter cottage to 
 take a ramble with him around the rocky shore. 
 He looked into Gerard's face as the latter strode 
 along beside him, his hands in the pockets of his 
 coat. 
 
 " Heavens ! " he ejaculated. " I wonder if I '11 
 ever look the way you do : as if you were sure of 
 everything here and hereafter." 
 
 " I hope so," answered Roger. 
 
 " But how did you dare act so promptly ? " pur 
 sued Andreas enviously. " Is it all military disci-
 
 ON THE ISLAND. 299 
 
 pline ? The last time I saw you, you thought 
 doubtful things just as uncertain as I do." 
 
 Gerard smiled at a tall, pointed fir-tree. 
 
 " It seemed taken out of my hands." 
 
 " By George ! " returned Andreas ruefully, " I 
 wish Miss Archer Archer would take it out of my 
 hands." 
 
 " You don't understand me. The only advice I 
 can give you is to sleep and dream, and wake and 
 go on dreaming." 
 
 " Listen to the sphinx ! I can sleep and dream 
 all right, but when I wake, you bet I don't go on 
 dreaming." 
 
 " Why don't you ask her ? " inquired Gerard 
 simply. " What are you afraid of ? " 
 
 " I 'm afraid of her, man," returned Russell, 
 almost shouting in his desperation. " She scares 
 me stiff. Why can't she be prettily conscious, and 
 blush and glance away, and do all those nice at 
 tractive things that other girls do ? Instead, she 
 looks square at me with those blue eyes of hers, 
 and seems to be considering me as if I were some 
 thing away outside of her. If she has the head 
 ache, I 'm afraid I 've offended her. If she is 
 thoughtful, I am afraid she is bored. The only 
 way I can get her sweet face to soften is to give 
 her a song and dance about an apocryphal girl up 
 country whom she believes I 'm in love with." 
 
 Gerard laughed aloud. " That is certainly an 
 original way of wooing."
 
 300 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 " Oh, it 's all right for you to stand high and 
 dry on the shore, and ridicule a man who 's swim 
 ming for life. She grew to believe in that girl by 
 misunderstanding something I said, and I get so 
 hungry sometimes that I '11 bid for a kind look 
 from her any way I can." 
 
 The lieutenant looked at his friend's splendid 
 proportions, and gloomy, clear-cut face, with amuse 
 ment, which he contrived this time to keep to 
 himself. 
 
 " If you expect Betty to show any preference for 
 another woman's lover, you misunderstand the sort 
 of girl you are dealing with," he said quietly. 
 
 " There is something in that," admitted An 
 dreas. 
 
 Gerard picked up a tempting stone, and paused 
 to send it skimming through the waves. 
 
 " There 's lots in it to an Archer," he re 
 turned. 
 
 Betty had more than one admirer at the Pulpit, 
 and one of the stanchest was Cap'n Levi, upon 
 whom her gentle and refined reposefulness had 
 made a deep impression. 
 
 On her way home from Nathalie's on that radi 
 ant morning, when it would have been hard for a 
 stranger to decide which of the four women talk 
 ing in the Dexter cottage looked happiest, Miss 
 Archer met the captain, who was muttering to 
 himself as he came down the road. He stopped 
 before the girl to express his grievance.
 
 ON THE ISLAND. 301 
 
 " Russell Andr'as has been at me to try to git 
 iny bo't," he grumbled. " He knows I won't lend 
 my bo't. Jest as soon let my woman go as my 
 bo't." 
 
 " I suppose the only safe way is never to lend 
 it," returned the girl kindly. 
 
 " Yis, 't is. Russell knows this coast 's well 's I 
 do ; but I ain't goin' to break over m' rule. Ef 
 he wants to sail in my bo't and have me go 'long 
 an' sail it, I 'm willin'. He knows that." 
 
 " Well, don't worry, Cap'n Levi. I '11 talk to 
 him. I think a sail in yo' boat with you would be 
 right jolly." 
 
 " Well, you jist gi' me a half-hour's notice any 
 time, and I '11 be thar," returned the old man, his 
 seamed face brightening. 
 
 " Have you heard the news, Cap'n Levi ? " 
 
 " No, I hain't heard no news. I seen that young 
 soldier feller 't was here last year 'round this 
 mornin'." 
 
 " Yes, he has come, and he and Miss Dexter are 
 engaged to be married." 
 
 " Ye don't say so ! " The captain looked much 
 interested. " Wall," he chuckled, " no extry 
 charge fer sweethearts in my bo't. Let 'em come, 
 ef they want to." 
 
 " Very well. This is my party, is n't it, Cap'n 
 Levi?" 
 
 " Sartin it is. Sartin," returned the old man 
 gallantly.
 
 302 MI88 ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 " Expect us at two o'clock, then. I '11 be there, 
 if I have to come alone ! " 
 
 " I 'd be jest as well pleased ef ye was to come 
 alone," returned Cap'n Levi ; and delighted with 
 his own repartee, he went, chuckling, along toward 
 the store. 
 
 But Miss Archer did not appear at the dock 
 alone. She had with her Nathalie, the lieuten 
 ant, and Andreas, who had swallowed his displeas 
 ure with Cap'n Levi at her command, and now 
 submitted to the unaccustomed role of passenger 
 in a sailboat. 
 
 " The old man 's the fifth wheel to the coach, 
 after all," remarked the captain when he had his 
 load on board, and had begun to tack slowly out 
 of the little cove which served Pulpit Point as a 
 harbor. " Miss Dexter and Cap'n there, I wish 
 ye much joy. There 's ben lots o' sparkin' he-ar. 
 Seems 's if the Pulpit come pretty near to heaven 
 when it comes to the jawb o' makin' matches." 
 The speaker turned his solitary tooth toward the 
 young couple, who were dutifully trimming the 
 boat by sitting on opposite sides of it. 
 
 " Say ! " exclaimed Andreas. " Would n't it be 
 great to have a wedding at the Pulpit, I mean, 
 have the minister actually stand in the Pulpit ! 
 You ought to be willing, Miss Dexter, to wear a 
 waterproof instead of the usual mosquito-netting 
 business for the sake of the romance of the thing, 
 and be married in the very spot where you and Ge 
 rard first met ! '
 
 ON THE ISLAND. 303 
 
 Russell passed his hand over his mouth, and his 
 eyes shone wickedly. " We would scrape all the 
 seaweed off one rock for Roger to stand on. It 
 would n't do to have any slips on that occasion. 
 I suppose liberty of speech has returned, Roger 
 -eh?" 
 
 " To a certain extent," returned Gerard, smiling 
 at Nathalie. "I think, however, you should be 
 the one to have the honor of being married among 
 the barnacles, since it was your own brilliant idea." 
 
 " Won't Nathalie's wedding be pretty ! " said 
 Betty joyously. " I love a military wedding. It 
 is one of the nicest things about marrying an army 
 officer. I'm to be maid of honor, Nathalie has 
 promised. Now mind you choose the finest lieu 
 tenant in the service fo' yo' best man, Roger. You 
 must consider ma future." 
 
 " What are you thinking of, child ? There sits 
 my best man." Gerard indicated Russell. 
 
 " Oh ! " ejaculated Miss Archer blankly. And 
 then Andreas had the opportunity of seeing how the 
 too imperturbable girl looked, colored by as violent 
 a blush as he had ever beheld on maiden's face. 
 
 " Cap'n Levi promised to show me about sail 
 ing," she said, rising hurriedly ; and the boat at 
 that moment meeting the first big wave outside the 
 cove, she was promptly precipitated straight into 
 Russell Andreas's arms. 
 
 " Do excuse me ! " she exclaimed ; and he, his 
 usual ready nonsense all flown, replied meekly :
 
 304 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 "Certainly." 
 
 They sailed out to one of the islands that they 
 knew well, and Cap'n Levi mooring his boat in a 
 safe place, they all landed. 
 
 " I am going to hunt for fir balsam," said Na 
 thalie, who had brought scissors and a basket for 
 the purpose. 
 
 " Let me go with you ! " exclaimed Andreas 
 effusively. " I 'd just as lief go as not." 
 
 The lovers disappeared, laughing, into the woods, 
 and Cap'n Levi, finding a sheltered group of trees, 
 sat down among them on a grassy bank. 
 
 " Ye kin all go, ef ye don't stay too long," he 
 said. " I 'm goin' to kind o' keep an eye on the 
 bo't. Never did keer fer walkin' when sittin' 's jest 
 as cheap." 
 
 Miss Archer promptly sat down on the grass 
 near him. " I feel like staying here too," she said 
 with decision. 
 
 Russell deliberately followed her example, and 
 disposed himself on the other side of the captain. 
 " It seems to be Hobson's choice for me, then," 
 he remarked. " I never was much on wandering 
 about alone, and soliloquizing, and carving names 
 on the trunks of trees." 
 
 " I s'pose them two folks," the captain gestured 
 backward with his head, " don't keer much whether 
 they 're walkin' or settin', jest so 's thar ain't any 
 body else around." 
 
 " Well," admitted Andreas, " I dare say they 're 
 not lonely."
 
 ON THE ISLAND. 305 
 
 " That young man 's found his commandin' offi 
 cer sure," went on the captain. " I could tell him 
 a thing or two." He nodded knowingly. " She 
 looks dretful soft and biddable, but just let him 
 wait." The speaker nodded again, so portentously 
 that Betty laughed merrily. 
 
 Cap'n Levi showed his tooth for sympathy. 
 " That gal knows jest what she wants and when 
 she wants it ; and so I can tell that soldier boy 
 over there." 
 
 " Well," said Miss Archer, " Mr. Gerard wishes 
 to find out what she wants, and to give it to her." 
 
 " Jest 's long 's he doos, things '11 go reel peace 
 ful," returned the captain. 
 
 " And when it comes to war, you must remember 
 that Mr. Gerard is right in his element," suggested 
 Russell. 
 
 Cap'n Levi began comfortably mumbling a 
 blade of grass. He was having a very good time. 
 The trees kept the wind off, the sun was pleasant, 
 and since these young people preferred his society 
 to rambling about the island, he was bound to do 
 his best to entertain them. 
 
 "When's your turn comin', Russell?" he in 
 quired. " Seems to me you hang fire consid'able." 
 
 " It is n't my fault, Cap'n." 
 
 " Whose, then ? Your sweetheart's ? " 
 
 "Yes." Andreas sighed. " She 's sweet enough, 
 but she is n't mine." 
 
 " Sho ! " said the old man contemptuously.
 
 306 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 " Refused ye once, maybe. Some folks git the 
 mitten so easy ! " 
 
 No woman ever had a larger bump of curiosity 
 than had developed on this old fisherman's cranium 
 in his narrow, monotonous life. He gazed now at 
 Andreas, who was leaning on his elbow, and star 
 ing out to sea. 
 
 " Where 'd ye say she lived ? " 
 
 " She lives in Virginia." 
 
 " You never told me that," said Miss Archer. 
 
 " You never asked me. You have n't the Yankee 
 enterprise." 
 
 " Down there now eh ? " hazarded the captain. 
 
 " No, she is in Maine now." Russell smiled 
 oddly toward Betty. " Miss Archer, this seems to 
 be a game of twenty questions. Won't you take a 
 hand?" 
 
 " I think I will," said Betty gravely. " You 
 make me feel as if I were detaining you. You 
 have not given her up. If she is in Maine now, 
 why are you not with her ? " 
 
 " I am." 
 
 Andreas spoke so quietly, his eyes resting on 
 hers, that it took Betty moments to believe she had 
 heard aright ; then the color mounted to her face, 
 and slowly receded. 
 
 Her gaze did not drop from his, though she 
 turned so pale, and the old captain sat there be 
 tween them, his weather-beaten, nut-cracker face 
 looking meditatively out to sea.
 
 ON THE ISLAND. 307 
 
 "You told me she loved some one else," said 
 the girl ; and Cap'n Levi smiled shrewdly. 
 
 "I '11 find out more a-listenin' than I will 
 a-talkin'," he thought. " Women 's jest brimful 
 o' curiosity. 'T ain't their fault." 
 
 " I firmly believed so that afternoon when I told 
 you." 
 
 " But in the evening, when I explained " 
 
 " I did not credit all you said. I thought you 
 capable of any sacrifice. Yes, I believed that 
 sweet girl was crushing her own heart." 
 
 " But at the dance the evening at the Hy- 
 geia " 
 
 " Yes, I believed you at last, then, and I began 
 to dream dreams." 
 
 " Ye can't put no faith in dreams," remarked 
 Cap'n Levi, briefly. 
 
 Miss Archer's breath was coming faster, for 
 Andreas's eyes were eloquent, and his fine face was 
 tense with feeling. 
 
 With an involuntary movement she suddenly 
 came closer to Cap'n Levi, and took a fold of his 
 faded sleeve between her fingers. 
 
 The old man, gratified at her friendliness, turned 
 toward her. 
 
 " He 's baound to be close-mouthed, ain't he ? Ye 
 hain't found out much, I '11 bet. Russell Andr'as 
 allers could talk the most, and say the least, of any 
 feller that ever come to the Pulpit." 
 
 Betty laughed a little, a laugh that was near
 
 308 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 to tears, and caught her lower lip with her 
 teeth. 
 
 " Wonder 'f them folks back in the woods thar 
 hev got any idee o' time ?" remarked Cap'n Levi. 
 
 " I think we had better go after them, Miss 
 Archer and I," returned Andreas quickly. 
 
 " Yes, that 's right, you go," said Betty, whose 
 expression made Russell think of some delicate 
 wild creature, who sees the hunter near. Their 
 positions were reversed : she was the one who was 
 frightened now. 
 
 " I said ' we,' " he answered. 
 
 " But I think I '11 stay with Cap'n Levi." 
 
 The captain, mumbling his grass-blade, turned 
 to Russell, smiling triumphantly. 
 
 "Holler, can't ye?" 
 
 " I don't want to startle them. I wish you 
 would persuade Miss Archer to come with me." 
 
 " Seems skeered o' the woods, don't he ? " re 
 marked the captain to Betty. Then, happening to 
 catch sight of a water-lined rock below, he started. 
 "Look he-ar. I didn't know as time was flyin' 
 so. I knew the tide wuz a-runnin' out when we 
 come in. We 'd better git aboard. She draws a 
 good deal o' water for her size. Git the folks, 
 Russell, an' I '11 go down t' the bo't an' jest keep 
 watch of her." 
 
 Miss Archer had charmed the old man without 
 doubt, but when it came to a question of his be 
 loved boat, no rival had a chance.
 
 ON THE ISLAND. 309 
 
 He moved now as swiftly as he was able, and 
 hurrying away down to the shore, disappeared 
 behind its gray rocks. 
 
 The two he had left also rose. All was still but 
 for the wind in the trees and the solemn murmur 
 of the sea. 
 
 Miss Archer gave one look into Russell's speak 
 ing face, and then her eyes fell, and involunta 
 rily she pressed both her hands to her fluttering 
 heart. 
 
 He came near, but he did not touch her. Her 
 pure, proud maidenhood was an appeal. 
 
 "You know it all now, Betty," he said plead 
 ingly. " Have I not been patient ? You said 
 yourself that in time she would care for me." 
 
 A faint little smile grew about the girl's lips as 
 she still studied the turf. 
 
 " Ever since that evening at the Hygeia," she 
 began slowly, " I have prayed to God every night 
 that I might not love Mr. Andreas." 
 
 " Dear heart ! " 
 
 She lifted the blue eyes he loved, and her sweet 
 lips trembled as she added still more slowly : 
 
 " But ma prayers were not answered." 
 
 It might have been seconds, minutes, hours, 
 that they had stood in that little sheltered copse, 
 her heart beating upon his, when Cap'n Levi's stri 
 dent shout from the shore pierced the ^Eolian 
 music of the pines.
 
 310 MfSS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 " I tell ye I'm a-goin' ! " 
 
 Nathalie Dexter's voice replied : 
 
 " But you must wait a minute. We have n't 
 found them yet." 
 
 Betty started. " They want us." 
 
 " Never mind," murmured Andreas. " Let us 
 stay here forever." , 
 
 " But I should n't like barnacles three times a 
 day. Are are you going to tell them ? " 
 
 "Tell them? I shall tell the very stones!" 
 exclaimed Andreas ; and so even at the moment 
 when the lieutenant was waking the echoes in an 
 endeavor to reach his friend, these two came out of 
 the copse near by, hand in hand, the same light 
 on their faces that shone upon Adam and Eve in 
 the garden. 
 
 Instantly the other pair came to meet them, with 
 glad comprehension. Gerard wrung the hand of 
 his friend in silence, while his eyes gave him a 
 solemn charge. Then he took Betty in his arms 
 tenderly, and kissed her cheek. 
 
 Cap'n Levi's voice came desperately up the bank. 
 
 " She 's a-scrapin', I tell ye." 
 
 " Ay, ay, sir," called Andreas ; and the radiant 
 quartette hurried forward and down to the shore. 
 
 " Did n't reelize the tide wuz so low," said the 
 captain. " You 're a smart feller, Russell," he 
 added, with biting sarcasm. " I '11 send you after 
 folks agin some time ! " 
 
 " It was Miss Archer Archer's fault, Cap'n."
 
 ON THE ISLAND. 311 
 
 " Blamin' it on the woman, hey ? That 's an old 
 dodge ! " 
 
 Andreas took Betty's hand to help her to the 
 high gunwale of the rocking boat, but paused in 
 that attitude. 
 
 " Beg pardon, Cap'n ; I called her wrong," he 
 continued. "I meant to say, the future Mrs. 
 Russell Forbes Andreas." 
 
 "Hey?" 
 
 " It 's a fact, Cap'n, it 's a fact. You can't 
 believe it, and I sympathize with you perfectly. 
 Neither can I." 
 
 There was an ominous grating of pebbles under 
 the keel of his precious boat, but Cap'n Levi was 
 actually deaf to it, while Miss Archer's eyes 
 sparkled at him, and her lips were closed de 
 murely. 
 
 " Ye don't say so ! Then you wuz the gal ! " 
 
 Betty nodded. 
 
 " Wall, we 've found out who she wuz, anyway," 
 said the old man with satisfaction. " And," he 
 viewed Andreas leniently, " ye might take up with 
 a worse feller 'n Russell, after all." 
 
 Gerard was gravely emptying the contents of his 
 full basket on the beach. 
 
 " What are you doing ? " asked Andreas, viewing 
 in wonder the mass of common, scentless green 
 that fell upon the pebbles. 
 
 " Nathalie insisted on filling the basket with some 
 thing at the last minute," explained the lieutenant,
 
 312 MISS ARCHER ARCHER. 
 
 " but it does n't matter now if you do know that 
 we forgot all about looking for fir balsam." 
 
 Cap'n Levi's tooth aided in the general laugh. 
 
 " Git aboard ! git aboard ! " he commanded. " I 
 guess neither one o' ye '11 begrech me sailin' the 
 bo't goin' back ; and if signs an' omens caount fer 
 anythin', I sh'd say the very best place this party 
 kin head fer 's a Pulpit ! "
 
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