"Sometimes," replied the ferryman; "and I don't trust everybody. I go a good deal by people's faces." It did not seem to Rosamond that this remark required an answer, so she sat silent, while his vigorous strokes sent the little boat swiftly across the river, when he beached it, and, giving her his hand, helped her to spring to dry ground. Then she said,-- "That's where I'm going,--that white house across the first street; and I shall only be a few minutes." "Don't hurry," he said, as she turned away. "I've nothing more to do this evening after I take you back." He really did forget for the moment the "other two" and the concert. The blissful meditation which enwrapped him made the fifteen minutes of her absence seem as five. She came down the bank, blushing and smiling. "'And, oh, she looked sweet!'" mentally ejaculated the ferryman. "Did I keep you long?" she said, as he helped her in. "I hurried as much as I could. And if you, or the old man, will be here to-morrow at half-past four, I should like to cross again: it saves me such a long walk. And I'll be _sure_ to bring the money." "You didn't keep me--that is, waiting--at all," he answered dreamily; "and I'll be here at half-past four, sharp, to-morrow. You may depend on me." "Very well," she said contentedly, as she settled herself among the cushions, which in her absence he had arranged for her greater comfort, adding, "What a very nice boat you have! I don't see how you keep it so neat and fresh, taking so many people across, and being out, as I suppose you must be, in all sorts of weather." "It's a new boat," he said hurriedly, "and you're my first passenger. Would you mind telling me your name?--your first name I mean, of course?"--for the horrible idea occurred to him that she might think he was anxious about his fare. "I haven't named her yet, and I thought, perhaps, _as_ you're my first fare, you'd let me name her after you,--for luck, you know." "Is that considered lucky?" she asked innocently, "If it is, of course you may. My name is Rosamond; but it seems to me that's rather long for a boat. Suppose you call her the Rose. Papa--my father, I mean--used to call me that oftener than Rosamond, and--one or two other people do yet." "I don't think Rosamond would be too long," he said thoughtfully, "but it shall be as you wish, of course. I will have 'Rose' painted on the stern, and I can call her Rosamond to myself. May I have one of your roses, just to--to remember it by, till I can see the painter?" "Why, yes, I suppose so." And she unfastened one of the two at her throat, and handed it to him. He placed it carefully in his pocket-book, which, as she observed with some surprise, was of the finest Russia leather. Ferrying must be profitable work, to provide the ferryman with such boats and pocket-books. There was a brief silence, and then she said, "You were singing as I came down the bank. Would you mind singing again? It sounds so pretty on the water."