"You said you wouldn't be flippant." "So I did. Have you any more remarks to make?" "Yes. I remark that I thought you were in love with Rodney." There was now a short silence. Prudence was standing with her hands clasped among the vines on top of the wall in front of her. "Did I seem so?" she asked. "Yes." Prudence turned still farther away as she answered: "I was in love with him." "Oh, Prudence, you are certainly unaccountable!" burst out Carolyn. "That's just what I think myself." As she spoke, the girl turned back towards her companion and laughed. "Oh, yes, I was certainly in love with him. The sun rose and set in his eyes for me; I thought of him by day and dreamed of him by night; when he looked at me I felt my heart give one delightful throb and then go on as if it were beating to delicious music. He was never absent from me really; he--" "That's quite enough," interrupted Carolyn, harshly; and she added, after a moment: "I don't believe one word you have said." "Why not?" Prudence lifted her eyebrows. "Because if you had loved him like that you would not have thought of any one else." "Pshaw! While the fever was on, you mean." "Prudence, why won't you be serious?" "Because you are serious enough for two,--yes, for a dozen." Carolyn's face had been gradually growing white. She now walked away, following the wall and staring out towards the ocean. Prudence leaned forward on the wall, her arms extended over the thick green of the creeper that covered the stones. There was some new light in her eyes, but it was not easy to tell what that light meant. When Carolyn returned she met her gaze with frankness, and said: "Caro, what is it you want to say to me? You haven't said it yet." "No, I haven't. I'm trying to ask you a question." "Go on." But the other girl still seemed to find extreme difficulty in saying what was in her mind. Finally she asked: "Are you going to try to win Rodney back to you?" There was something deeply piteous in Carolyn's lovely face as she spoke; a pain, a hope and doubt which made the tears rise to the eyes of her companion. "You dear little thing!" cried Prudence. "How ridiculous you are! I couldn't do it if I tried." "Oh, I don't know," was the response. "I wish you hadn't come now. Mamma dreamed that you were drowned, and that I was glad of it. That was horrible. It frightened me. I remember how Rodney felt about you. It's useless to pretend that I don't remember, or that he is in love with me in that kind of a way. You'd find out all about it, and I may just as well tell you. I've loved him ever since I can remember; I suffered when you and he were engaged; but I meant to be reconciled to anything that would make him happy. You see, I want him to be happy, whatever happens--" "You foolish thing!" here Prudence murmured. But the other did not seem to hear this exclamation. She went on: