For answer he motioned to the left where below them lay a wide and
cultivated countryside--farmhouses surrounded by elms; compact wood
lots of hardwood; crops and orchards, all fair and pleasant across
the bosom of a fertile nature.

"And this," said he. "That valley was once nothing but a pine
forest--and so was all the southern part of the State, the peach
belt and the farms. And for that matter Indiana, too, and all the
other forest States right out to the prairies. Where would we be
now, if we HADN'T done that?" he pointed across at the stump-covered
hills.

Mischief had driven out the gravity from the girl's eyes. She had
lowered her head slightly sidewise as though to conceal their
expression from him.

"I was beginning to be afraid you'd say 'yes-indeed,'" said she.

Orde looked bewildered, then remembered the Incubus, and laughed.

"I haven't been very conversational," he acknowledged.

"Certainly NOT!" she said severely. "That would have been very
disappointing. There has been nothing to say." She turned and
waved her hat at the beech woods falling sombre against the lowering
sun.

"Good-bye," she said gravely, "and pleasant dreams to you. I hope
those very saucy little birds won't keep you awake." She looked up