garden patch beyond, Mrs. Caley said. Gordon
strolled around the corner of the house as hastily, as
slowly, as he dared.

He saw her immediately. She wore a blue linen
skirt, a white waist, and her sleeves were rolled up.
The sun glinted on her uncovered hair, blazed in the
bright tin basin into which she was dropping scarlet
peppers. She appeared younger than he had remembered
her; her arms were youthful and softly
dimpled; her brow seemed again the calm, guileless
brow of a girl; her eyes, as she raised them in
greeting, were serene.

"I wanted to explain to you," he began obliquely,
"about that -- that falling asleep. It's been worrying
me. You see, I hadn't had any rest for three
or four nights, I had been bothering about my affairs,
and about something more important still."

Bean poles, covered with bright green verdure,
made a background of young summer for her own
promise of early maturity. She placed the basin
on the ground, and stood with her arms hanging
loosely, gazing at him expectantly, frankly.

"The most important thing in my life," he added,
then paused. "I thought for a while that I had
better go away without saying anything to you, and
more particularly since I have lost everything."
He could hear, coming over the road, the regular
hoof-beats of a trotting horse, and he had the feel-

[[141]]

p140 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p141w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p142

v?