Leola could not help blushing furiously, but she said, as carelessly as she could: “Oh, only one of our neighbors!” She was inwardly furious with herself at this slip of the tongue that was destined to lead her into self-betrayal. Ah, how true it is that a name that is close to the heart must often rise to the lips. To distract Jessie’s attention she asked, all in a breath: “When are you going to marry your grand, rich lover, Jessie?” “My wedding will be in October,” fibbed Miss Stirling, who had no mind to confess that she had lost the prize, and she continued: “Mr. Olyphant has gone on a yachting tour with some friends now, and I do not know exactly when they will return. It was expected they would only be gone two weeks, but they extended the trip. I miss him very much, and I shall be quite frantic if he stays much longer!” “Then you love him very much?” queried Leola, with shining eyes. “Love him! I should say so!” cried Jessie, eagerly. “Why, Leola, he is as handsome as a picture, tall, with an elegant figure, fine features, brown, curly hair, and beautiful, laughing blue eyes!” “So has Ray!” cried Leola, then bit her lips in confusion, sighing to herself: “What a lovesick little goose I am, giving away my dangerous secret in spite of myself!” “Ray again!” cried Jessie, suspiciously. “Come, now, tell me all about him, Leola. A neighbor, you said, but I knew no one of that name about here last summer. You say he has laughing blue eyes like Chester Olyphant, so you must be fond of him, this neighbor! Confess now, is he your lover?” “Oh, nonsense, Jessie, we were talking of your lover!” cried Leola. “Go on, please, tell me more of him, and of your love for each other.” “We are perfectly devoted to each other,” declared Jessie, unblushingly. “How could I help loving him--with all that money!” “But, Jessie, if Mr. Olyphant were poor, would you not love him just the same?” Jessie had a red rose in her hand, and she tore it to pieces with absent-minded fingers as she replied, bluntly: “Bah. I wouldn’t permit myself to love a poor man if he were a perfect Adonis!” But artless Leola, with rosy cheeks and glowing eyes, retorted: “Then you do not know how to love, Jessie--not even the meaning of that sacred word, for I would adore Ray Chester if he had not a second coat to his back!” “Ray Chester! There you go again!” cried Miss Stirling, with a violent start. “Oh, come now, you are madly in love with some man, Leola, and you have got to tell me all about it this minute!” “Oh, you are mistaken!” cried poor Leola, trying to flounder out of her difficulty. “I am not mistaken! Oh, no! I know all the signs of love, and you cannot even keep his name off your lips!” cried Miss Stirling, triumphantly: