But Polly was wearing her Sunday dress of brown cloth and a jaunty jacket trimmed with sable (the best bits of an old pelisse of Mrs. Oliver’s).  The sun shone on the loose-dropping coil of the waving hair that was only caught in place by a tortoise-shell arrow; the wind blew some of the dazzling tendrils across her forehead; the eyes that glanced up from under her smart little sailor-hat were as blue as sapphires; and Edgar, as he looked, suddenly feared that there might be vicious bulls in the meadows, and did n’t dare as a gentleman to trust Polly alone!  He had n’t remembered anything special about her, but after an interval of two years she seemed all at once as desirable as dinner, as tempting as the minstrels, almost as fascinating as the billiards, when one has just money enough in one’s pocket for one’s last week’s bills and none at all for the next!

The boys, as I say, had imagined Edgar’s probable process of reasoning.  Polly was standing in the highroad where “a wayfaring man, though a fool,” could look at her; and when Edgar explained that it was his duty to see her safely to her destination, they all bowed to the inevitable.  The one called Tony even said that he would be glad to “swap” with him, and the whole party offered to support him in his escort duty if he said the word.  He agreed to meet the boys later, as Polly’s quick ear assured her, and having behaved both as a man of honor and knight of chivalry, he started unsuspectingly across the fields with his would-be guardian.

She darted a searching look at him as they walked along.

“Oh, how old and ‘gentlemanly’ you look, Edgar!  I feel quite afraid of you!”

“I ’m glad you do.  There used to be a painful lack of reverence in your manners, Miss Polly.”

“There used to be a painful lack of politeness in yours, Mr. Edgar.  Oh dear, I meant to begin so nicely with you and astonish you with my new grown-up manners!  Now, Edgar, let us begin as if we had just been introduced; if you will try your best not to be provoking, I won’t say a single disagreeable thing.”

“Polly, shall I tell you the truth?”

“You might try; it would be good practice even if you did n’t accomplish anything.”

“How does that remark conform with your late promises?  However, I ’ll be forgiving and see if I receive any reward; I ’ve tried every other line of action.  What I was going to say when you fired that last shot was this:  I agree with Jack Howard, who used to say that he would rather quarrel with you than be friends with any other girl.”

“It is nice,” said Polly complacently.  “I feel a sort of pleasant glow myself, whenever I ’ve talked to you a few minutes; but the trouble is that you used to fan that pleasant glow into a raging heat, and then we both got angry.”

“If the present ‘raging heat’ has faded into the ‘pleasant glow,’ I don’t mind telling you that you are very much improved,” said Edgar encouragingly.  “Your temper seems much the same, but no one who knew you at fourteen could have foreseen that you would turn out so exceedingly well.”