her of his love, but dared not yet until he was surer of her and of what she felt for him.  He had no faith now in her fancies with regard to herself.  Of the likeness to Arthur, which he thought he saw the previous there had been no trace on the face which had almost touched his that morning when he pinned the rose upon her bib.  She was not—­could not be Gretchen’s daughter, and was undoubtedly the child of the woman found in the Tramp House—­his Jerry, whom he had found, and claimed as his own, and whom he meant to win some day, when he had his profession, and was established in business.  ’But that will be a long, long time, and some one else may steal her from me,’ he said to himself, sadly, as he thought of the years which must elapse before he could venture to take a wife.  ’Oh, if I were sure she cared for me a little, as I do for her, I would ask her now and have it settled; for Jerrie is not a girl to go back on her promise, and the years would seem so short, and the work so easy, with Jerrie at the end of it all,’ he continued, and then he wondered how he could find out the nature of Jerrie’s feeling for him without asking her directly, and so spoiling everything if he should happen to be premature.

Would his grandmother know?  Not at all likely.  She was too old to know much of love, or its symptoms in a girl.  Would Nina St. Claire know?  Possibly, for she and Jerrie were great friends, and girls always told each other their secrets, so Maude said, and Maude was just then his oracle.  He had seen so much of her the last few months that he felt as if he knew her even better than he did Jerrie, and he was certainly more at his ease in her presence.  Then why not talk with Maude and enlist her as a partisan.  He might certainly venture to make her his confidente, she had been so very communicative and familiar with him, telling him things which he had wondered at, with regard to her father, and mother, and Tom, and the family generally.  Yes, he would sound Maude, very cautiously at first, and get her opinion, and then he should know better what to do.  Maude would espouse his cause, he was sure, for she liked him and worshipped Jerrie.  He could trust her, and he would.

He had reached the Allen farm-house by this time, and though he was perspiring at every pore, for the morning was very hot, he scarcely felt the heat or the fatigue of his rapid four-mile walk, as he mixed his paints and prepared for his work, for there was constantly in his heart a thought of Jerrie, as she had looked in that bewitching dress, and of the bright, smile she had flashed upon him when she said good-bye.

Meanwhile Jerrie had watched him out of sight, whistling merrily: 

  ’Gin a body meet a body,
    Comin’ through the rye,
  Gin a body kiss a body,
    Need a body cry?’

whistling it so loud and clear that Nannie came to the fence and put her head over it with a faint low of approval, while Clover-top thrust his white nose through the bars, and looked at her inquiringly, as Jerrie pulled up handfuls of fresh grass and fed them from her hands, noticing that Nannie had lost her knot of ribbon, and wondering where it was.  Then she returned to the house, and was busying herself with preparations for her grandmother’s breakfast and her own, when the latter appeared in the kitchen, surprised to find her there, and saying: