“What a surprise, Peter!” she said, as she took his hand.  “How do you happen to be in the East?”

“An errand boy,” he replied.  “Somebody had to come, so they chose me.  Incidentally,” he added, smiling down at her, “it is a part of my education.”

“We thought you were lost,” said Howard Spence, significantly.

“Oh, no,” she answered lightly, evading his look.  “I was on the bench at the edge of the wood.”  She turned again to Peter.  “How good of you to come up and see me!”

“I couldn’t have resisted that,” he declared, “if it were only for an hour.”

“I’ve been trying to persuade him to stay a while with us,” Joshua put in with unusual graciousness.  “My mother will be disappointed not to see you.”

“There is nothing I should like better, Mr. Holt,” said Peter, simply, gazing off across the lawn.  “Unfortunately I have to leave for the West to-night.”

“Before you go,” said Honora, “you must see this wonderful place.  Come, we’ll begin with the garden.”

She had a desire now to take him away by himself, something she had wished, an hour ago, to avoid.

“Wouldn’t you like a runabout?” suggested Joshua, hospitably.

Honora thanked him.

“I’m sure Mr. Erwin would rather walk,” she replied.

“Come, Peter, you must tell me all the news of home.”

Spence accepted his dismissal with a fairly good grace, and gave no evidence of jealousy.  He put his hand on Peter’s shoulder.

“If you’re ever in New York, Erwin,” said he, “look me up Dallam and Spence.  We’re members of the Exchange, so you won’t have any trouble in finding us.  I’d like to talk to you sometime about the West.”

Peter thanked him.

For a little while, as they went down the driveway side by side, he was meditatively silent.  She wondered what he thought of Howard Spence, until suddenly she remembered that her secret was still her own, that Peter had as yet no particular reason to single out Mr. Spence for especial consideration.  She could not, however, resist saying, “New Yorkers are like that.”

“Like what?” he asked.

She coloured.

“Like—­Mr. Spence.  A little—­self-assertive, sure of themselves.”  She strove to keep out of her voice any suspicion of the agitation which was the result of the events of an extraordinary day, not yet ended.  She knew that it would have been wiser not to have mentioned Howard; but Peter’s silence, somehow, had impelled her to speak.  “He has made quite an unusual success for so young a man.”

Peter looked at her and shook his head.

“New York—­success!  What is to become of poor old St. Louis?” he inquired.

“Oh, I’m going back next week,” Honora cried.  “I wish I were going with you.”

“And leave all this,” he said incredulously, “for trolley rides and Forest Park and—­and me?”