It came from the iron railing, behind which the female Una was standing, grinning at him.  He got up and walked toward her.

“Hello!” he returned.

“You didn’t think I’d come, did you, Jerry?” she asked, though how she could have arrived at that conclusion with the boy sitting there waiting for her is more than I can imagine.

“No, I didn’t,” he replied, already learning to prevaricate with calm assurance.  “Are you coming in?”

“I will if you ask me to.”

“I can’t do that,” he laughed.  “You know the rules.  But I don’t see what I could do to stop you.”

“Please invite me, Jerry.”

“No, I won’t invite you.  But I won’t put you out if you come.”

“Please!”

“Why do you insist?”

“Because—­I think you ought to, you know.  Just to make me feel comfortable.”

“You seemed very comfortable yesterday.”

“I think you’re horrid.”

“Horrid!  Because I won’t break my promise?”

“But you’ve made no promise.”

“It’s understood.  See here.  I’ll turn my back and walk away.  If you come in it’s not my fault.”

“You needn’t bother.  I’m not coming.”  She turned and made as though to go.

“Una,” he called. “Please. Come in.”

She reappeared miraculously, her vanity appeased by Jerry’s downfall, bobbed through the bent irons, and rose smiling decorously as Eve must have smiled when she watched Adam first bite the apple.

“Thanks,” she laughed, clambering up the rocks.  “It’s awfully nice of you.  I knew you would.  I couldn’t have come else.”

“It doesn’t really make much difference, I suppose,” said Jerry dubiously.

“What doesn’t?”

“Whether I ask you or whether you just come.”

“I wouldn’t have come if you hadn’t.”

“Are you sure?”

“Positive.  I was just passing this way and I saw you sitting here.  I hadn’t the slightest intention of coming in.  Of course, when you invited me, that made things different.”

He laughed and motioned to a rock upon which she sank.

“Tell me,” he said, “how you happen to be up here in the mountains alone.  You don’t belong around here.  You didn’t know about the wall, or about me, did you?”

“Of course not; not yesterday.  But I do now.  I asked last night.”

“Who did you ask?”

“The people I’m staying with.”

“And what did they tell you?”

“They weren’t very polite.  It doesn’t do to ignore one’s neighbors. 
They said you were a freak.”

“What’s a freak?”

“Something strange, unnatural.”

“And do you think I’m strange or unnatural?” he asked soberly.

She looked at him and laughed.

“Unnatural!  If nature is unnatural.”

“What else do they say?” Jerry asked after a thoughtful pause.