It was a pretty game. The young man was hard hit, and it was his first wound from Cupid's dart. Heretofore in his curriculum girls had not been included; and the closeness of his association with his father had not been conducive to incipient love affairs. Perhaps, for these reasons, he was all the more ardent a wooer. Certainly an ardent wooer he was. There was no gainsaying that--though the boy himself, at first, did not recognize it as wooing at all. It began with pity. He was so sorry for her--doomed to slave all day for those two rascally small boys. He could not keep her out of his mind. As he tramped the hills the next morning the very blue of the sky and the softness of the air against his cheek became a pain to him--_she_ was tied to a stuffy nursery. His own freedom of will and movement became a source of actual vexation--_she_ was bound to a "do this" and a "do that" all day. He wondered then, suddenly, if he could not in some way help. He sought her as soon as possible. "Come, I want you to go to walk with me. I want to show you the view from Pike's Hill," he urged. "Me? To walk? Why, Mr. Denby, I can't!" Again the wild-rose flush came and went--and again Burke Denby stepped nearer. "Why not?" "Why, I couldn't leave the children; besides--it's Master Paul's nap hour." "What a pity--when it's so beautiful out! To-morrow, then, in the morning?" She shook her head. "I couldn't, Mr. Denby." "The afternoon, then?" "No." "Is it because you don't _want_ to?" "_Want to!_" At the look of longing that leaped to her face, the thwarted youth felt again the fierce wrath he had known the first day of their meeting. "Then, by Jove, you shall!" he vowed. "Don't they ever give you any time to yourself?" She dimpled into shy laughter. "I shall have a few hours Thursday--after three." "Good! I'll remember. We'll go then." And they went. To Burke Denby it was a wonderful and a brand-new experience. Never had the sky been so blue, the air so soft, the woods so enchantingly beautiful. And he was so glad that they were thus--for her. She was enjoying it so much, and he was so glad that he could give this happiness to her! Enthusiastically he pointed out here a bird and there a flower; carefully he helped her over every stick and stone; determinedly he set himself to making her forget her dreary daily tasks. And when she lifted her wondering eyes to his face, or placed her half-reluctant fingers in his extended hand, how he thrilled and tingled through his whole being--he had not supposed that unselfish service to a fellow-being could bring to one such a warm sense of gratification. At the top of the hill they sat down to rest, before them the wonderful panorama of grandeur--the green valley, the silvery river, the far-reaching mauve and purple mountains. "My, isn't this real pretty!" exclaimed the girl. [Illustration: HE WAS LOOKING AT HER LOVELY, GLORIFIED FACE]