It really seemed as if she did, too. She had looked at herself long and steadily after she had been dressed, and when she turned away from the glass she held her head a trifle more erect, and her cheeks had reddened. Perhaps what she had recognized in the reflection she had seen had taught her a lesson. But she said nothing. In a few days Olivia herself was surprised at the progress she had made. Sanguine as she was, she had not been quite prepared for the change which had taken place in her. She had felt sure it would be necessary to teach her to control her emotions, but suddenly she seemed to have learned to control them without being told to do so; she was no longer demonstrative of her affection, she no longer asked innocent questions, nor did she ever speak of her family. Her reserve was puzzling to Olivia. "You are very clever," she said to her one day, the words breaking from her in spite of herself, after she had sat regarding her in silence for a few minutes. "You are even cleverer than I thought you were, Louise." "Was that very clever?" the girl asked. "Yes, it was," Olivia answered, "but not so clever as you are proving yourself." But Louisiana did not smile or blush, as she had expected she would. She sat very quietly, showing neither pleasure nor shyness, and seeming for a moment or so to be absorbed in thought. In the evening when the stages came in they were sitting on the front gallery together. As the old rattletraps bumped and swung themselves up the gravel drive, Olivia bent forward to obtain a better view of the passengers. "He ought to be among them," she said. Louisiana laid her hand on her arm. "Who is that sitting with the driver?" she asked, as the second vehicle passed them. "Isn't that----" "To be sure it is!" exclaimed Miss Ferrol. She would have left her seat, but she found herself detained. Her companion had grasped her wrist. "Wait a minute!" she said. "Don't leave me! Oh--I wish I had not done it!" Miss Ferrol turned and stared at her in amazement. She spoke in her old, uncontrolled, childish fashion. She was pale, and her eyes were dilated. "What is the matter?" said Miss Ferrol, hurriedly, when she found her voice. "Is it that you really don't like the idea? If you don't, there is no need of our carrying it out. It was only nonsense--I beg your pardon for not seeing that it disturbed you. Perhaps, after all, it was very bad taste in me----" But she was not allowed to finish her sentence. As suddenly as it had altered before, Louisiana's expression altered again. She rose to her feet with a strange little smile. She looked into Miss Ferrol's astonished face steadily and calmly. "Your brother has seen you and is coming toward us," she said. "I will leave you. We shall see each other again at supper."