She laughed again. "They have talked of very little else but you, since you have been gone, and Dick is like a boy who has lost a schoolfellow." She said it so frankly that Drake's heart sank. "Well--I've thought--I've missed you--Dick," he said, stumbling over the sentence. "Shorne Mills is, as you said, not the kind of place one forgets in a hurry." "Did I say that?" she asked. "I don't remember it." "Ah! but I do," he said. "I remember----" "Hadn't we better walk on?" she said. "You must be tired, and will be glad of some tea--or something." He seemed to notice for the first time that they had been standing, and they walked on. Her heart was still beating fast--beating with a new and strange happiness glowing through her. Only a few minutes ago she had felt so weary and wretched; the familiar scene, which she loved so dearly, had seemed flat and dreary and full of melancholy, and now--oh! how lovely it was! how good it was to look upon! Why had everything changed so suddenly? Why was every pulse dancing to the subtle music with which the air seemed full? The question came to her with a kind of dread and fear; and her eyes, which shone like stars, grew momentarily troubled and puzzled. He scarcely dared look at her. The longing to touch her, to take her in his arms--that longing of passionate love which he had never felt before--rose imperiously in his heart; but something restrained him. She was so young, so innocent and girlish that a kind of awe fell upon him. When, as she walked beside him, the sleeve of her jacket came in contact with his arm, a thrill ran through him, and he caught his breath. But he would hold himself in check; not at this moment, when she was startled by his sudden appearance, would he tell her. It was more than likely that he would frighten her, and that she would fly from him. "And is there any news?" he asked. She looked up as if she had come from a reverie. "News! There is never any news at Shorne Mills!" she said, smiling brightly. "Nothing ever happens. Dick has shot some rabbits--and there was a good catch of mackerel yesterday, and--that's all." Her eyes shone up at him, and he looked into their depths. "I wish I'd been here," he said. "But perhaps they'll have another big catch." "Are you going to stay?" The question sprang from her lips almost before she knew it, and she bit them a moment after the words were spoken; for it seemed to her that he must have noticed the eagerness, the anxiety in the query; but Drake only thought that she had asked with some surprise. "A--a little while," he replied. "Mamma and Dick will be very pleased," she said, in as matter-of-fact a tone as she could. "I wired to Mrs. Brownie, asking her if she could put me up--old Brownie lets some rooms, he told me----" Her face fell for a moment. "You are not coming to us--to The Cottage?" she said cheerily. "No; I couldn't trespass upon Mrs. Lorton's hospitality," he replied.