He was looking at her sorrowfully, almost as if she had deserted him. "That's too bad, but--I suppose you must go. Yes; this is no place for you. I dare say other people need you to bring sunshine and joy to them just as we old fellows do, but--I've never thought about your leaving. It wouldn't be right to ask you to stay here among such people as we are when you have so much ahead of you. Still, it will leave a gap. Yes--it certainly will--leave a gap." She longed desperately to tell him how willingly she would stay if he only asked her, but the very thought shocked her into a deeper reserve. "I'm going East to sell my book," she said, stiffly. "You've given me the climax of the story in this race with the seasons." "Is it a--love story?" he asked. Eliza flushed. "Yes. It's mostly love." "You're not at all the girl I thought you when we first met. You're very--different. I'm sure I won't recognize myself as the hero. Who--or what is the girl in the story?" "Well, she's just the kind of girl that would appeal to a person like you. She's tall and dark and dashing, and--of course, she's remarkably beautiful. She's very feminine, too." "What's her name?" Miss Appleton stammered: "Why--I--called her Violet--until I could think of a better--" "What's wrong with Violet? You couldn't think of a better name than that. I'm fond of it." "Oh, it's a good book-name, but for real life it's too--delicate." Eliza felt with vexation that her face was burning. She was sure he was laughing at her. "Can't I read the manuscript?" he pleaded. "Heavens! No! I--" She changed the subject abruptly. "I've left word to be called the minute the ice starts to go out. I want to see the last act of the drama." When O'Neil left her he was vaguely perplexed, for something in her bearing did not seem quite natural. He was forlorn, too, at the prospect of losing her. He wondered if fathers suffered thus, or if a lover could be more deeply pained at a parting than he. Somehow he seemed to share the feelings of both. XXVII HOW A DREAM CAME TRUE Early on the following morning Eliza was awakened by a sound of shouting outside her window. She lay half dazed for a moment or two, until the significance of the uproar made itself apparent; then she leaped from her bed. Men were crying: "There she goes!" "She's going out!"