"I know it; I shall never ride." She looked at him with an artless smile, that was the refinement of coquetry. "I shall see you at the dance, to-night?" she asked. "I shall be there." "I have saved the third for you. You do not deserve it, but I saved it, none the less." He bowed low. "Only the third?" "Only the third," she said, as the coach rolled away. "And what have you saved for me?" said Parkington, who overheard the last words. "Whatever you like," she answered, "except the third." "Then I take as many as I may; I want them all." "You are modest," she said. "You are the first that ever told me so." "And am likely to be the last," she retorted. "You said that you would give no dances before the ball," Captain Herford interposed. "I did," she admitted; "but, then, I did not know of our guest from England. The dance I have given Mr. Maynadier, you may charge up to the right that every woman has to change her mind." He leaned down to the carriage door. "Change your mind for me," he said. She appeared to ponder, as though undecided. "Just one," he pleaded, "just one!" "Just one, then," she said, with a captivating smile. She turned to Parkington, who rode on the other side of the coach; as a guest, of course, he had the place without a struggle. "How long are you from London?" she asked. "Ten weeks." "Who came out with you--any one of prominence?" "No; mainly shop-keepers and the like--a most uninteresting lot." "You must have had a pleasant ten weeks!" she laughed. "I tried to make the best of it. Some amusement is to be got of a row of graven images, if one try hard enough; and, even a shop-keeper beats a graven image." "Tell me of your shipwreck," said she. "I have forgotten," he said; "forgotten everything but the salt water--I swallowed so much, I can taste it still." "It shall be the business of Annapolis to obliterate the taste." "It is obliterated, now," he said, bending down. "Henceforth, Annapolis follows after London, with nothing whatever between--and you are Annapolis." "Oh, no! I am not. I have nothing to do with Annapolis, other than as a guest." "That should make you kind to the stranger." "If the stranger be kind to me," she said, archly; then, before he could make answer, added: "Take supper with us, this evening. You can retire in time to change your clothes for the Ball." "Gladly," he exclaimed, "gladly! Though, as to clothes, this suit will have to pass; Pinkney can get me no more for a day or two. Even this was a great favor." "You should hope, sir, that the rest will be as becoming," she murmured, as the coach drew up. "Good-bye," she said, waving her fan to Mr. Paca and Captain Herford and Mr. Worthington; "I will see you at the Ball, to-night." And, giving Sir Edward her hand, they went up the steps, and into the mansion. IV THE MARBURYS