He knew he must look like a fool, but to save him he could not help it, he was simply bubbling over with delight as he grasped her hand, and before she could say a word he said, “You are Miss Sallie Worth, the Secretary of the Association. My foster mother has described you so accurately I should know you among a thousand.” “Yes, I have been looking forward with pleasure to our trip to the Springs when I knew we should meet you. I am delighted to see you a month earlier.” She said this with a simple earnestness that gave it a deeper meaning than a mere commonplace. “Do you know that you nearly knocked me off my feet when I first saw you in the crowd?” “Why? How?” she asked. “You startled me.” “I hope not unpleasantly,” she said, looking up at him with her blue eyes twinkling. “Oh! Heavens no! You are such a perfect image of the girl she described that I was so astonished I came near shouting at the top of my voice, ‘There she is!’ And that would have astonished the audience, wouldn’t it?” “It would indeed,” she replied blushing just a little. “But I’m forgetting my mission, Mr. Gaston. Papa sent me to apologise for his absence to-day. He was called out of the city on some mill business. He told me to bring you home to dine with him. I’m the Secretary, you know and exercise authority in these matters, so I’ve fixed that programme. You have no choice. The carriage is waiting.” CHAPTER V--THE MORNING OF LOVE TO his dying day Gaston will never forget that ride to her home with Sallie Worth by his side. It was a perfect May day. The leaves on the trees were just grown and flashed in their green satin under the Southern sun, and every flower seemed in full bloom. A great joy filled his heart with a sense of divine restfulness. He was unusually silent. And then she said something that made him open his eyes in new wonder. “Don’t drive so fast Ben, and go around the longest way, I’m enjoying this.” She paused and a mischievous look came into her eyes as she saw his expression. “I’ve got the lion here by my side. I want to show all the girls in town that I’m the only one here to-day. It isn’t often I’ve a great man tied down fast like this.” “Why did you spoil the first part of that pretty speech with the last?” he said with a frown. “It was only your vanity that made me pause.” “Could you read me like that?” “Of course, all men are vain, much vainer than women.” Again there was a long silence. They had reached the outskirts of the city now and were driving slowly through the deep shadows of a great forest. “What beautiful trees!” he exclaimed. “They are fine. Do you love big trees?” “Yes, they always seem to me to have a soul. It used to make me almost cry to watch them fall beneath Nelse’s axe. I’d never have the heart to clear a piece of woods if I owned it.”