"I was wondering," he remarked, "why you raced off like that just now. Of course, there was one explanation,--that you _wanted_ to lose the match, and were sick at having won it,--but I wasn't such a bounder as to think that. I smoked a pipe or two up there,"--Elsie started; she had not realised that her cry had lasted so long,--"and I thought it all over to see if I could come to a satisfactory solution of the mystery, and--" Elsie unclosed her left hand, and displayed a golf-ball, which she tossed towards him. "There's the solution, Pip," she said. Pip picked up the ball and examined it. Then he took another from his pocket and compared the two. "Ah!" he remarked. "Then you spotted me. I thought you had, but I couldn't see how. It never occurred to me that you had found your ball. I thought perhaps you had seen something wrong with the one I put--took out of the hole, but I see they are both identical. There's not a mark on either. It was a pity you found yours. If you hadn't, all would have ended happily, wouldn't it?" "For me or for you?" "For both of us." "Then you wouldn't have minded losing?" This with a scornful little laugh. "No, not in this case." There was another silence. That Pip should not mind losing a match of which she was the prize struck Elsie as uncomplimentary, not to say rude. But Pip was never rude to her. Obviously there was something more to come. She waited patiently. Pip gave no sign. Presently feminine curiosity overcame pride, and she asked,-- "What do you mean by 'in this case'?" "I mean this," said Pip. "I don't like losing matches at any time,--nobody does,--but in this case, _your_ case, I was glad." "Oh! Why?" "At first it was because I couldn't bear to see you beaten after the plucky fight you made. I've often felt the same thing at cricket, when some chap is sticking in to keep the last wicket up, and I am put on to knock it down. Admiration for a gallant foe, and all that, you know. But now I am glad for quite another reason--jolly glad!" He gave the girl a look that was quite new to her. "Why are you glad, Pip?" she asked, not unkindly. "Well, I had a good long think just now, up on that green, and a lot of things were made plain to me that had never struck me before. First of all, I realised that you had been quite right." "Right? About what?" "About this golf-match being contrary to Nature. Love affairs aren't built that way. I had no right to try and force such terms on you. I see that now. I tried to drive you into a corner. It was a low-down trick, though I thought it a fair enough offer at the time. I was quite sincere." "I know you were," said Elsie quickly. Pip raised his eyes to hers for a moment.