something would occur to explain the whole situation to him. And yet
nothing had occurred, and now upon the third day he was as grossly
ignorant of the causes which had produced his strange environment as
at the moment of his arrival.

"One thing I do not understand," Paul observed, as they wandered over
the vari-colored leaves, side by side; "it is why you should be so
anxious to leave this ideal spot."

"Have I not told you that it is because I am out of my element;
because I am avoided; because I have not a friend far nor near! Oh,
Paul, you do not know what it is to be alone in the world!"

"And do you believe that a simple change of locality would alter all
this?" he asked.

She paused for a moment before answering, and then, looking down upon
the ground, said as if with some effort:

"No, not that alone."

"What then, Dorothy?" he asked with solicitude.

"I have already told you," she replied without looking up. "Oh, Paul,
what a short memory you must have!"

"Of course I understand that we are to be married," he responded
hastily, "but how can that alter the situation? Dorothy, if we have
not found congenial friends in that position in life in which God or
nature has placed us, how can we hope to make them in another? Do you