"Off for the day, portfolio, camera, easel!" he exclaimed. "Then surely you will let me go with you." "No," replied Martine firmly, "this isn't a picnic. We are just going off to work a little, and enjoy ourselves." "I like that. As if I would interfere. Atherton will be along in a minute, and he would enjoy the excursion too." "No," repeated Martine, with increasing firmness. "We have made our plans. We wish to go by ourselves." Clare, who saw no good reason for Martine's attitude toward Herbert, yet thought it wiser not to interfere. Herbert, who so seldom was out of temper, now seemed offended. "Very well," he said abruptly, "I won't trouble you," and turning on his heel, he walked away. "I can't help it," explained Martine in answer to Clare's look of wonder. "One boy, or two, for that matter, would be terribly in the way in a little trip like this. Here's the car, and I am glad enough to be off." Now it happened that Carlotta and another girl who knew Martine went as far as Kittery on the same car. On their return to York they found Herbert on the links. "You were on the same car with Martine; did she say where she was going with Grace?" he asked abruptly. "She mentioned Newcastle," replied Carlotta. "They will cross on the ferry, and may row back across the river." "How foolish girls are!" grumbled Herbert. "They think because they can paddle up York River that it's perfectly safe to row anywhere else. I hope they won't try it alone. There's a fearful current at the mouth of the Piscataqua." "I don't see why you should care," responded Carlotta sharply. "Besides, Martine can generally take care of herself. Besides, I must tell you a funny thing. You know there was a young conductor on the special the day we went to the Shoals. Peggy says he watched Martine when she wasn't looking, and I know Martine asked me if he reminded me of any one I knew at home. Well, to-day he was on the regular car--and once when we waited at a turnout, Clare and Martine got off and stood by the side of the road, and in a minute he and she were talking as if they had always been acquainted. They actually stood there under the trees and talked, and Angelina stood there grinning like a Cheshire cat, the way she always does." "Well, why not? Why shouldn't Martine talk to whom she pleases? Really, Carlotta, how silly you are!" and Herbert walked off with an expression of disdain for a foolish sister. Now this is what had really happened. Martine and Clare had not been long on their way when the former exclaimed excitedly, "Do you remember, Clare, that boy I told you of, Balfour Airton, whom we met in Nova Scotia, who was so clever and knew everything about old Port Royal, whom I discovered to be a kind of cousin? Well, he's the conductor." "What conductor?" asked Clare, who had not quite followed the course of Martine's thought.