"Are they tired of life?" enquired the young man, smiling. "No. I want to make a sketch in the woods. I'll go out by myself, thank you." "Do you mean to sketch the place where we stopped yesterday?" "Oh no--I'm going in quite another direction. I can't exactly explain where it is, because I've such a bad memory for names of roads, and all that. But I can find it." Miss Cordelia Miner looked up from the magazine she was reading. "You're not going to ride alone with Mr. Brinsley, are you?" she asked suddenly. "Why not?" asked Fanny. "I don't see any reason why I shouldn't, It's safer than riding alone, isn't it?" "I confess, I don't like the idea," said Miss Cordelia. "It looks as though there were something." "Something of what kind?" Fanny watched Lawrence's face. "Something--well--not really an engagement--but--" "Well--why shouldn't I be engaged to Mr. Brinsley, if I like?" enquired the young girl, arching her brows. "Why, Fanny! I'm surprised!" And, indeed, Miss Miner seemed so, for she almost sprang out of her chair. "I don't know why you need be horrified, though," returned Fanny, calmly. "Should you be shocked if any one said that you were engaged to Mr. Brinsley? What's the matter with him, anyway?" she demanded, dropping into her favourite slang. "You'd be proud to be engaged to him--so would Elizabeth--so would Augusta! Then why shouldn't I be proud if I can get him? I'm sure, he's awfully good-looking, and he rides--like an angel." "An angel jockey," suggested Lawrence, without a smile. "Not at all!" exclaimed Fanny. "He rides like a gentleman and not in the least like a jockey." Miss Cordelia had risen from her chair, and turned her back on the young people. "You've no right to say such things to me, Fanny," she said, going slowly towards the window. Her voice shook. The young girl saw that she was deeply hurt, and followed her quickly. "I didn't mean to be horrid!" said Fanny, penitently. "I was only laughing, you know, and of course I shall take Stebbins. And I'm not engaged to Mr. Brinsley at all." "Why didn't you say so at once?" asked Cordelia, half choking, and turning away her face. Fanny, unseen by her cousin, glanced at Lawrence, and then at the door, and the young man departed immediately, leaving the two cousins to make peace. He did not remain long in the house. Thrusting a sketch-book and a pencil into his pocket, with his pipe and pouch, he went out without seeing Fanny again, taking her at her word with regard to her plans for the afternoon. An hour later, he was seated under a tree high upon the side of the hill and almost out of sight of the Otter Cliff road. There was nothing particular in the way of a view from that point, but there were endless trees, and Lawrence amused himself in making a rough study of a mixed group of white pines, firs, and hackmatacks.