She certainly was a little forward, Craig thought, but he took the lily, thinking it quite in keeping with her character to give it to him. He didn’t know that in her forgetfulness of self Alice would give away anything another wanted and that she would as soon have given the lily to Uncle Zacheus as to him. He was a bit of a prig she was thinking, and wondering what she should say to him, when Jeff appeared with his basket. “You are too late. I have one; the young lady gave it to me,” Craig said. “All right. She helped me pull ’em,” Jeff answered, as he darted away, while a suspicion of his mistake began to dawn upon Craig. “You helped him gather them! Aren’t you Miss Tracy?” he asked in some confusion. Alice laughed and replied, “_A_ Miss Tracy, yes; but not _the_ Miss Tracy you have evidently mistaken me for. That is Helen. I am Alice,—the cousin. I live at Rocky Point, among the mountains between Springfield and Albany, and taught school there the last spring term. My aunt very kindly invited me to spend my vacation with her and Helen, and here I am, and so glad to be here.” She was not Helen, for whom Craig was waiting. She was an unaffected country girl, with the manners of a perfect lady, and he began to admire her greatly and to think Uncle Zach not far out of the way when he called her a daisy. She had given him her confidence and he began at last to give her his, and before he realized it had told her a great deal of himself and what he liked and disliked; had told her about the hotel and the town and the places to visit and had introduced her to Mark, who had joined them for a moment. When he was gone Craig spoke of him in the highest terms, and then the talk turned upon books, for a part of Alice’s duty was to find out what Craig’s favorites were. “Do you have much inclination to read here?” she asked, glancing at the half open volume beside him. “Not much,” he replied, taking up the book and passing it to her. “I have been trying to master Sordello, but guess I shall have to give it up unless you can help me. Do you like Browning?” “Mercy, no!” Alice answered quickly, then added, as she saw a shade of disappointment in his face, “Perhaps I should not say no so decidedly when I know so little about him. I might like him if I knew more of him. I have always thought him very obscure. You like him of course?” “Yes, I like him for his very obscurity. There is a pleasure in finding out what he means just as there is in cracking a hard nut for the rich meat you know there is inside. It is pleasanter, though, studying him with other people. I belong to a Browning Club in Boston and find it rather different here plodding along alone. I suppose you have no clubs in Rocky Point.”