He bowed, perhaps relieved at thus permitting her to assume the initiative, and rested lazily back upon the grass, his eyes intently studying her face.

“I suppose from your clothes you must be a soldier.  What is that figure 7 on your hat for?”

“The number of my regiment, the Seventh Cavalry.”

Her glance was a bit disdainful as she coolly surveyed him from head to foot, “I should imagine that a strong, capable-appearing fellow like you might do much better than that.  There is so much work in the world worth doing, and so much better pay.”

“What do you mean?  Is n’t a soldier’s life a worthy one?”

“Oh, yes, of course, in a way.  We have to have soldiers, I suppose; but if I were a man I ’d hate to waste all my life tramping around at sixteen dollars a month.”

He smothered what sounded like a rough ejaculation, gazing into her demure eyes as if she strongly suspected a joke hid in their depths.  “Do—­do you mistake me for an enlisted man?”

“Oh, I did n’t know; you said you were a soldier, and that’s what I always heard they got.  I am so glad if they give you more.  I was only going to say that I believed I could get you a good place in McCarthy’s store if you wanted it.  He pays sixty-five dollars, and his clerk has just left.”

Brant stared at her with open mooch, totally unable for the moment to decide whether or not that innocent, sympathetic face masked mischief.  Before he succeeded in regaining confidence and speech, she had risen to her feet, holding back her skirt with one hand.

“Really, I must go,” she announced calmly, drawing back toward the slight opening between the rushes.  “No doubt you have done fully as well as you could considering your position in life; but this has proved another disappointment.  You have fallen, far, very far, below my ideal.  Good-bye.”

He sprang instantly erect, his cheeks flushed.  “Please don’t go without a farther word.  We seem predestined to misunderstand.  I am even willing to confess myself a fool in the hope of some time being able to convince you otherwise.  You have not even told me that you live here; nor do I know your name.”

She shook her head positively, repressed merriment darkening her eyes and wrinkling the corners of her mouth.  “It would be highly improper to introduce myself to a stranger—­we Presbyterians never do that.”

“But do you feel no curiosity as to who I may be?”

“Why, not in the least; the thought is ridiculous.  How very conceited you must be to imagine such a thing!”

He was not a man easily daunted, nor did he recall any previous embarrassment in the presence of a young woman.  But now he confronted something utterly unique; those quiet eyes seemed to look straight through him.  His voice faltered sadly, yet succeeded in asking:  “Are we, then, never to meet again?  Am I to understand this to be your wish?”