"Don't hurry, Katrine! it is a sweet evening: let us stroll home together! Fate has not lightly brought about this meeting." "I haven't time to stroll, Wilson! I must walk fast. Don't let me hurry you, though! Good evening!" She stepped aside to pass him, but again he stepped with her; tried for a space to keep pace with her, and finding this difficult, planted himself squarely in front of her. "Not so fast, sweet one!" he said. "I have a word to say to thee. We have not met since the dance, Katrine. A long month ago!" "I believe not!" Kitty spoke coolly, but she gave a quick glance up and down the road. No one was in sight: there was no house near except Savory Bite's cottage, and that was out of sight round the next corner. "Katrine was cruel that night!" Wilson went on, still balancing himself from side to side. He could not seem to stand still and straight at the same time. "Katrine was cruel indeed. She flung her Fate from her; tipped me out in the snow, didn't she? But her Fate came back." He laughed. "Here's Fate, Katrine! Can't escape it; here is Fate! Fate is here!" He tapped himself on the breast, and assumed an attitude of command. "What _are_ you talking about, Wilson?" exclaimed Kitty impatiently. "Please let me pass, and don't be silly." "Silly! she calls me silly!" Wilson nodded thrice solemnly and tried to take Kitty's hand; failing in which, he waved his own and then leveled a wavering forefinger at her. "Katrine, it is time we came to an unshand--undershand--understanding! I feel--I have long felt--that we were born for each other. Why blink the fact?" This struck Wilson as a strong expression; he repeated it--"Why blink the fact! Let us hail it, joyfully, Katrine. Two hearts that beat as one! You are mine, little bird: mine!" Now, however much Wilson Wibird might indulge in remarks of this kind to his crony, the mirror, he would not have dared to make them to Kitty when sober, and Kitty knew it. After that swift glance up and down the road, she drew out a long steel hatpin and held it in her hand. "Wilson," she said briefly, "what do you mean? What are you talking about, and what do you want?" "Want--you!" Wilson opened his arms with a dramatic gesture. "You are mine, I say! I have an iron will, Katrine, and that will claims you. Come, little bird! Let us seal our union with a k----" "If you come one step nearer," said Kitty quietly, "I'll run this pin into you." She displayed the pin, really a formidable weapon. Wilson, who had taken a step forward, paused. "I have an iron will!" he protested. "'Wibird hath iron will;' did you never hear that, Katrine? 'Tis the motto of our House. I am the tenth and perhaps the last Wilson Wimberley Wibird. In me meet the features--" he indicated his nose and chin--"and the forces of my ancestors. Don't be obstinate, Katrine!" Here his mood changed suddenly; his eyes filled with tears.