"Because women declare against women. I wouldn't be surprised if they were already angry with you."
"Why?"
"I have thought that he fancied you and showed you preference."
"He has been quite nice, but I thought it was generally understood that he would make love to Miss Baxter."
"I may be wrong, but I sometimes imagine you like him, and I do not blame you either, my dear; many a girl has married less attractive men than your artist."
"Oh, he is handsome, has a magnificent build, and that voice—" murmured the girl, clasping her hands over her knee and looking into the fire.
The other watched her intently and said slowly: "I had hoped to save you for my boy—he is our best gift from God, and you—come next."
The girl smiled softly, "Oh, Fred doesn't care for me; he says I remind him of hay fields and yielding clover. I take it that he means I am too 'fresh,'" observed the girl, half seriously.
"Not at all; what is purer and sweeter than to be forest-bred? Why, after all these long years, I tire of my city fostering and long for the South country where your mother and I grew into woman-
