"I dare you to get on the Elevated with me and ride out with me to Bronx Park for a sniff of the country." "I should say not! I got to go buy a steamer-trunk and a whole list of things mamma gave me and then hurry home and help. Maybe--maybe some other day." "Aw, have a heart, Miss Miriam! To-morrow I've got to go over to Newark to sell a bill of goods. Maybe some other day will never come. Feel how grand it is out. Just half a day. Come!" She was full of small emphasis and with no yielding note in her voice. "No, no, I can't go." "Just a little while, Miss Miriam. All those things will keep until to-morrow. I can get you a steamer-trunk wholesale, anyway. Look, it's nearly two o'clock already! Come on and be game! Think of it--out in the park a day like this! Grass growing, birds singing, and the zoo and all. Aw, be game, Miss Miriam!" "If I thought Ray would help mamma; but she's got a grouch on and--" "Sure she will! Gee! what's the fun meeting a girl you think you're going to like if she won't do one little thing for a fellow! You bet it ain't every girl I'd beg like this. Whoops, I could just rip things open to-day!" It was as if he felt his life in every limb. "Come on, Miss Miriam, be a sport! Come on!" "I--I oughtn't to." "That's what makes it all the more fun." Her eyes were so dark, so like pools! They met his with a smile clear through to their depths. "Well, maybe, but--but just for a little while." "Just a little while." "I--I oughtn't." "You ought." "Well, just this once." "Sure, just this once." He linked his arm in hers. "I--I--" "Gee!" he said, "you're a girl after my own heart!" On the Elevated train the windows were lowered to the first inrush of spring, and when they left the city behind them came the first green smells of open field and bursting bud. "Now are you sorry you came, little Miss Miriam?" She bared her head to the rush of breeze and he held her hat on his lap. "Well, I should say not!" "No crowds, just everything to ourselves." "M-m-m-m! Smells like lilacs." "We'll pick some." "I--I ought to be home." "Forget it!" "Now, Mr. Shap-iro!" But her eyes continued to laugh and the straight line of her mouth would quiver. "Some eyes you've got, girlie! Some great big eyes! They nearly bowled me over when you opened the door for me last night. Let me see your eyes--what color are they, anyway?" "Green." They laughed without rhyme and without reason, and as if their hearts were distilling joy. Then for a time they rode without speech and with only the wind in their ears, and he watched the tendrils of her hair blowing this way and that. "Just think," she said, finally, "we land in Naples just four weeks from to-day!" "Hope the boat don't sail." "You don't." "Do!" "If you aren't just the limit!" "What'll I be doing while you're gallivanting round the country with some Italian count?" "I should worry."