She inclined her head with rather more of gravity than the nature of the conversation warranted, and her lips were slightly compressed as she observed that Arthur’s blue eyes were fixed pensively, but intently, on her face.

The meal being over, Oriana and Wayne strolled on the lawn toward the river bank, while the carriage was being prepared for a morning drive.  They stood on the soft grass at the water’s edge, and as Arthur gazed with a glow of pleasure at the beautiful prospect before him, his fair companion pointed out with evident pride the many objects of beauty and interest that were within view on the opposite bank.

“Are you a sailor, Mr. Wayne?  If so, we must have out the boat this afternoon, and you will find some fairy nooks beyond the bend that will repay you for exploring them, if you have a taste for a lovely waterscape.  I know you are proud of the grand old hills of your native State, but we have something to boast of too in our Virginia scenery.”

“If you will be my helmswoman, I can imagine nothing more delightful than the excursion you propose.  But I am inland bred, and must place myself at the mercy of your nautical experience.”

“Oh, I am a skillful captain, Mr. Wayne, and will make a good sailor of you before you leave us.  Mr. Hare will tell you that I am to be trusted with the helm, even when the wind blows right smartly, as it sometimes does even on that now placid stream.  But with his memories of the magnificent Hudson, he was too prone to quiz me about what he called our pretty rivulet.  You know him, do you not?”

“Oh, well.  He was Beverly’s college-mate and mine, though somewhat our senior.”

“And your warm friend, I believe?”

“Yes, and well worthy our friendship.  Somewhat high-tempered and quick-spoken, but with a heart—­like your brother’s, Miss Weems, as generous and frank as a summer day.”

“I do not think him high-tempered beyond the requisites of manhood,” she replied, with something like asperity in her tone.  “I cannot endure your meek, mild mannered men, who seem to forget their sex, and almost make me long to change my own with them, that their sweet dispositions may be better placed.”

He glanced at her with a somewhat surprised air, that brought a slight blush to her cheek; but he seemed unconscious of it, and said, almost mechanically: 

“And yet, that same high spirit, which you prize so dearly, had, in his case, almost caused you a severe affliction.”

“What do you mean?”

“Have you not heard how curiously Beverly’s intimacy with Harold was brought about?  And yet it was not likely that he should have told you, although I know no harm in letting you know.”

She turned toward him with an air of attention, as if in expectation.