"I suppose so," he said thoughtfully. "It may be an apt comparison." "What is an apt comparison?" she asked. "Comparing me to the bull!" "Preserve me then from you, if it is apt!" she laughed. "I want no more bulls in mine." Was he making sport of her or was he serious, she wondered?--and could not decide. Reading his every action through her knowledge of his declared purpose to injure Pendleton and her, she was prone to suspicion. True, he had done what he could to save her from the bull's attack, but any man, were he only half a man, could not have done less. "Is that an invocation?" he asked. She looked at him questioningly. "Is a bull amenable to invocation?" she replied. "Will he withhold his attack if you pray--very hard?" She had touched the matter rather closely; and he, not knowing that she knew, was puzzled at its significance. While she, seeing that she had ventured almost too far, tactfully changed the conversation. They regained the highway, a little farther on, and tramped rapidly homeward. At the entrance to Criss-Cross, Stephanie stopped and held out her hand. "It is too early in the morning to ask you in," she said. "My hostess won't be visible as yet. She's not an early rambler--like we are, Mr. Porshinger. Thank you for saving me from that horrid bull." "And a less strenuous time on our next walk," he replied, bowing awkwardly over her hand. "You do walk 'most every morning, don't you, Mrs. Lorraine?" "Every morning that it is convenient," she answered. "Will it be convenient to-morrow morning?" he asked. "Not to-morrow," she replied. "I've something else on," and with a little nod she turned away and went up the drive to the house. "Send my breakfast up in half an hour," she said to the butler, as she passed through the hall. Once in her room, she rang for a maid, got out of her dusty walking suit and into the grateful shower bath--having first protected her hair with a rubber cap. Then she dressed, put on a flowing silk kimono, and went in to her breakfast, which the servant was just laying on the table by the window. In the midst of it, there was a knock on the door and Gladys entered. "Had your breakfast?" Stephanie inquired. "An hour ago," Gladys replied. "You take the early morning hours to walk; I take them for my correspondence and household orders. You win this time--it was a beautiful morning. Where did you go?" "Out the Churchville road, across the path through the Overton property to the Henrystown road, and home." "The path through the Overton property!" exclaimed Gladys. "I forgot to warn you that they are using those fields for pasturing cattle, with a vicious bull among them. Did you see him?" "Yes, we saw him," Stephanie answered, buttering a roll. "Did he come close?" "Fairly close!" "Weren't you frightened?" Gladys asked. "A trifle." "I should have been scared stiff."