Just then it came over me that there was nothing at all the matter with Sally’s disposition. The trouble was all with me. I had been in a trembling rage all day and the sensitive creature had taken it from me. I was disgusted with myself. “Little Sally,” I whispered in her ear as I dropped off her at the house door, “I’ll never, never act like that again.” She has wonderful eyes. I wish I had eyes like that creature. She looked at me straight and we kissed and made up. That is to say, I made the boy hold her till I got her some sugar, and I told him to rub her down well and blanket her and feed her very lightly. “She got a little excited,” I said. It was young James, and he looked at me curiously. I wondered if he, too, saw that I was the excited one. “Yassum,” he said. “No-um. Yassum.” I thought it covered the ground. I saw Keefe swinging around the drive just then, and I ran straight up to my room. Oh, Carin, how safe and sweet it seemed there. I called Semmy and had her draw my bath and help me off with my wet things, and I told her to lay out my new flame-colored silk. It is gorgeous in hue but modest in make. “For dull nights,” said Aunt Lorena when she gave it to me. “A country house, my dear, can be particularly gloomy. I trust you to brighten this one up at such times. Perhaps you can do it successfully without the aid of a flame-colored gown, but in case—” Well, I put on the flame-colored dress; likewise the slippers that went with it. No jewels. I have only my little pearls, and the gold beads and the amber ones. The dress would have put any of those out. I did my hair low. I took off my one ring. The dress, I thought, could have the whole road to itself. I was one minute late to dinner, and grandmother was watching for me. “Madam grandmother,” I said, “will you do me the honor?” I gave her my arm, and we went out to the dining room. Grandmother, of course, always precedes the others. I minded my manners and did not speak till I was spoken to. “Where were you to-day, Azalea?” asked Aunt Lorena. “Not in your room, I know. You should not go out, child, without letting us know where you were going.” I apologized. “I went for a little ride, Auntie, and the imps took hold of my bridle and led me farther than I meant. I lunched with Miss Delight Ravanel. You wished, I think, to have me with the Ravanels as much as possible.” “It was your grandmother who recommended the Ravanels to you particularly, I think.” “I thank whoever it was. I had a beautiful time. Miss Ravanel is as quaint as an old gift book, and as lonely as—as a rook.” “Rooks are not lonely,” said Keefe. “They go together in swarms.” “Lonely rooks are lonely,” I said. “I hope Miss Ravanel had received the apricot jam I sent her?” “I have a note from her, aunt, to that effect. She has been meaning to thank you in person. She also—in the note—begs that I may spend the next fortnight with her.”