He paled slightly, then lifted a strand of her hair and drew it across his lips. It was the first caress he had given her in their six weeks of friendly intimacy, and her colour deepened. He shook the hair over her face. Her eyes peered out elfishly. "I suspect we are going to flirt this week," she said, drily. "If you choose to call it that." Her hair was clinging about his fingers. "Suppose we make a compact--to regard nothing seriously that may occur this week." "Why are you so afraid of compromising yourself?" "That belongs to the final explanation. But it is a recognised canon of strawberry-week ethics that everybody flirts furiously. Friendship is entirely too serious. Of course I shall flirt with you,--I shall let Dominga Earle see that at once,--as I am tired of all the others. Will you make the compact?" "Yes." The sun had dropped below the ocean; only a bar of paling green lay on the horizon. Voices came faintly over the hill, and the shadows were rapidly gathering. Thorpe's face moved suddenly to hers. He flung her hair aside and kissed her. She did not respond, nor move. But when he kissed her again and again, she did not repulse him. "I want you to understand this," he said, and his voice had softened, a rare variation, nor was it steady. "I have not let myself go because you proposed that compact. I am quite willing to forget it." "But I am not. I expect you to remember it." "Very well, we can settle that later. Meanwhile, for this week, we will be happy. Have you ever let any man kiss you before?" "I don't know." "You don't know? What a thing to say!" "Some one may have found me napping, you know." "You are very fond of being enigmatical. Why can't you give a straight answer to a straight question?" "Well--what I meant was that you should not ask impertinent questions. But, if you insist,--as far as I know, only two men have kissed me,--you and my father." He drew a quick breath. The ugliest fear that had haunted him took flight. He believed her to be truthful. He stood up suddenly, and drawing her with him, held her closely until he felt her self-control giving way. When he kissed her again, she put up her arms and clung to him, and kissed him for the first time. He knew then, whatever her reason for suggesting such a compact, or her ultimate purpose, that she loved him. The mighty blast of a horn echoed among the hills and cliffs. Nina sprang from Thorpe's arms.