"A little better. I'll follow this up," Gwen decided, then aloud, "It has so many possibilities I don't think they can be used up in one season. Shall you come back next summer?"
"I doubt it, though it's rather too far ahead to make plans."
"But your plans—Fools rush in,"—Gwen quoted to herself—"I am interested in them. You were to decide something very important. Have you had any more light on the subject?"
"I have decided to keep on working and studying. Some day I may be an artist."
"Oh, I am so glad," broke out so spontaneously that the young man's rigid expression softened a little. "Then," the girl continued, "what about the holes in the family fortunes? You don't have to—darn them?" She laughed a little.
Kenneth's face clouded again. The reference brought up too sweet a memory of those first days of their acquaintance. "Fortunately for me," he returned coldly, "the fortunes of my family have improved," and Gwen felt repulsed.
"I am not asking from idle curiosity," there was a little quiver in her voice, "but because I am deeply interested." Then impulsively, "Aren't you ever going to forgive me, Mr. Hilary? I was horrid, I was vilely cruel that—that evening. I have been sorry ever since that I was such a beast." Having gone thus far she continued rapidly, "I have missed you dreadfully. It seemed such a lingering punishment when day after day I caught glimpses of you out sketching, and knew you were doing things I was dying to see, little bits that I loved off there in Sheldon woods, beautiful, mysterious effects on the bay, and those wonderful opalescent colorings of certain evenings. Don't you think I have been punished long enough? Can't we be friends again?" She spoke wistfully, almost as if there were tears in her eyes.
"Do you really feel that way about it?" asked Kenneth, nervously twisting the cord which held a small package he carried.
"I feel just that way, and it's been growing worse and worse. You would pass me by every time. You have taken such pains to avoid me. You never came to the dances, and refused all invitations to affairs where you knew you would be liable to meet me. So you see I had every reason to feel that I had sinned beyond hope of forgiveness. But, when I saw," she glanced at the barriers at each end of the deck, "when I saw that you couldn't very well get away without jumping overboard I made up my mind to risk my life by climbing over that mountain of shopping," she nodded toward the portly woman, "in order to tell you that I am sorry for what I said. It was fairly brutal."
There was no answer, but the nervous twisting of the cord ceased, and the hands gripped the package as if they would crush it.