Carolyn had risen from the table. She held the message crumpled in her hand. "Sha'n't you meet her anyway?" "How can I if I send my wheel?--but I have an idea that she doesn't care. I don't precisely know what she does mean, so I shall wait." "I sha'n't wait," suddenly announced Leander. "I shall spin down there myself." "And when is Rodney coming back, did you say?" "Not until to-morrow." Mrs. Ffolliott indulged in some remarks on the ways of young people at the present time, to which no reply was made. So it happened that when the eleven-forty train steamed up to the little station, there were on the platform but two people, the agent and a small boy in a suit so close and abbreviated as to be almost no suit at all. This boy was standing by his own wheel, and another bicycle leaned against the wall of the building. Leander was scowling along the steps of every car, and saying to himself: "I'll bet she hasn't come. Women never do anything right. I wanted to race her home." Three men and a small girl had alighted. It was no use looking any more. There, the train was moving. "Oh, thunder!" said the boy. He was turning away, when something touched his shoulder, and somebody asked: "Leander, why are you saying 'thunder?'" He flung about quickly. He snatched off his atom of a cap and looked up at the tall girl beside him. "Now, that's O. K.," he said, "and I'll race you home. How de do? You do look grand, though. And you can't ride a bike in _that_ suit,--no more'n a bose." "Can't I? We'll see. Let us kiss each other, Leander." "All right. I ain't no objections." The two kissed. Then Leander put on his cap. Prudence Ffolliott was dressed with extreme plainness in a perfectly fitting suit of brown with a white hat, and she had on gloves like those which a few girls can find, and which most girls pass all their lives trying to find. And yet it might seem an easy matter to get rather loose brown gloves like these. She had a small leather bag in one hand. She glanced up and down the platform. The train had sped away. The long waste of track lay desolate beneath the brilliant sun. The woods came up close on the other side of the rails. On this side a country road wound up a slight acclivity. There was one "open wagon," drawn by a sorrel horse, slowly ascending this hill. In the wagon sat three men very much crowded on the one seat. In the still air was a low, continuous sound. Prudence listened; she sniffed the air. "I hear the waves," she said. "The tide is coming in; and the wind is east." "Yes," said Leander, "I should have gone perchin' if I hadn't come down here. And I might as well have gone, for you can't ride. Just look at all the pleats and pipes 'n' things on your skirt! It's too bad! And sis sent her bike down. You wired for it, you know." "Yes," said the girl, "I know I wired for it. Wait for the transformation scene. How is Caro?" "She's well enough," said the boy, shortly. "And Aunt Letitia?" "Well's ever."