“It’s a pretty day,” he said.  “I’d like to take you to drive after dinner, if you will go with me.  I hated like smoke to miss that ride yesterday.”

She shook hands with him and then turned to Worthy, who was tying the package with a piece of twine drawn from a ball in a holder at the ceiling.  Westerfelt was afraid she was going to ignore his invitation wholly, but she looked round presently and smiled faintly.

“I shall be glad to go,” she answered.  “Any one else going?”

“No; that is, not that I know of.”

She leaned over to give Worthy the money, and waited for the change without glancing again at Westerfelt.

She took her parcel and started to leave.  “Then I shall come about two o’clock?” he said, going with her to the door.

She nodded.  “Very well; I’ll be ready,” and he stood aside for her to pass.

She walked briskly back to the hotel and into the kitchen, where her mother was at work.

“Did you get it?” Mrs. Floyd asked.

“Yes, and there’s the change.”  Harriet put down the package and dropped some pieces of silver into a goblet on the table.

“What’s the matter?” Mrs. Floyd was kneading dough in a great wooden tray, and she looked at Harriet over her shoulder.

“Nothing.”

“I know there is.”  Mrs. Floyd turned and began rubbing the dough from her fingers as a woman puts on a kid glove.

“Mr. Westerfelt has asked me to drive with him after dinner,” said the girl.  “That’s all.”

“Harriet!” Mrs. Floyd’s eyes sparkled with excitement as she sprinkled some flour over her dough and began to roll the mass back and forth.  “I reckon you will acknowledge now that I know something about young men.  If you had refused to go with Bascom Bates yesterday, Mr. Westerfelt would have had no respect for you; as it is, he couldn’t wait twenty-four hours to see you.  For all you do, don’t let him see too plain that you care for him.  Mind what I say!”

Westerfelt was impatient for two o’clock to arrive.  It was one when he left Bradley’s after dinner.  He went to the stable and ordered Jake to get out his horse and buggy.  He would call for her at once; he could not wait any longer.  He felt a sort of sinking sensation at his heart as Jake gave him the whip and reins, and he was actually trembling when he stopped at the hotel.  Harriet came out on the veranda above and told him she would be down at once.  She did not keep him waiting long, and when she came down, prettily flushed and neatly attired, his heart bounded and his pulse quickened.  Had she been a queen he could not have felt more respect for her than he did as he stood shielding her skirt from the wheels and helped her get seated.  He was just about to get in himself when an old man came down the sidewalk from Worthy’s store, headed for the buggy.  It was old John Wambush with a basket of eggs on his arm.