as much as my career was worth to stay away from that dinner, and I
couldn't go without her.

"'I won't go. I won't go,' she said over and over again, and when I
had coaxed and coaxed to no effect, I sat down and looked at her
helplessly, and troubled as I was, I could not help thinking that she
was the loveliest creature in the world--with her rose red cheeks and
her flashing eyes.

"She said many cutting things to me, but suddenly she stopped and ran
out of the room, and presently I saw her in the garden, this garden, my
dear, and she was flying around the oval path, as if she were walking
for a wager, her thin ruffles swirling around her, and the strings of
her bonnet fluttering in the wind.

"Around and around she went, and I just sat there and stared. When she
started in there was a deep frown on her forehead, but as she walked I
saw her face clear, and when she had completed the round a dozen times
or more, I saw her throw back her head in a light-hearted way, and then
she ran into the house.

"She came straight to me and threw her arms around my neck. 'John,'
she said, 'John, dear,' and there was the tenderest tremble in her
voice, 'John Jameson, I was a hateful thing.' I tried to stop her, but
she insisted. 'Oh, yes, I was. And I don't want the dress, I will
wear an old one--and I'll make you proud of me--'

"Then all at once she began to sob, and her head dropped on my
shoulder. 'Oh,' she cried, 'how could I say such things to you--how
could I--?'