"I am all tangled up in this maze of by-paths. In which direction is the parsonage from here?" "If you don't mind climbing a stone wall, we can turn to our right, and take a short cut, and we will be there in no time." Farr agreed, and they walked on in silence until they had emerged from the shrubbery into a small clearing, skirted on the further side by a wall, its line broken at a certain point where some stones had been thrown down. Farr sprang lightly across, and turned back to assist Jean. Just then the moon, which had slipped under a cloud, shone out again, its soft rays falling directly on the girl's face. She had one foot already on the first stepping stone when he put up his hand to stay her. "Well," she asked, as he did not speak. "What is it? Are you not going to help me?" "Of course I am, but," leaning a little toward her, "this wall is a sort of a Rubicon. Once crossed we cannot go back, for we are then in the parsonage grounds. It has been a pleasant walk, and one to be remembered, has it not?" "Yes," she murmured, with a quick indrawing of her breath. "I wish----" he began impetuously. "Mr. Farr," she interposed with gentle decision, "will you please help me over." He gave her his hand, and gravely assisted her to the ground on the other side. They were nearing the porch, and already the sounds of gay voices reached them through the stillness of the summer night, when Jean turned abruptly to the man at her side. "By the way, Mr. Farr, we are to have a visitor shortly, and I hope you men will help us to make it pleasant for her." He uttered some polite commonplace, and Jean went on: "Perhaps you know Helen's friend, a Miss Stuart of New York." A sudden recollection flashed through Farr's mind. "Not one chance in a thousand that it should be the same," he thought, as he answered indifferently, "I think not." "I thought possibly you might have met," she said carelessly. "She seems to know almost everyone." He half turned to put a question to her, but already they were at the vine-covered porch, and Nan's jolly greeting lost him the opportunity. CHAPTER VIII. NAN REBELS. Into the days that followed were crowded more gay doings than the quiet village of Hetherford had ever seen before. Old Dr. Birdsall shook his head disapprovingly over all this unseemly frivolity, but Aunt Helen's gentle voice championed the young folks, and persuaded him to allow Nan to join in the good times. The naval officers were in constant demand whenever they were not on duty, and at the end of the week the other men came out from town, and their advent was the signal for a series of rides, drives, walks, tennis matches, and amusements of every description. Emily pronounced herself perfectly satisfied, and when Nan and Mollie grumbled over a few of the changes that had followed in the train of all these merry-makings, she declared them heretics and disdainfully turned her back upon them.