Her short-lived joy vanished in the twinkling of an eye.
"What right has he there?" was her first thought. "I will not go back!" was her second. She stepped up the ladder, disregarding the proffered hand of her lover, and stood upon the floor of the arbor.
"Welcome to the Castle in the Air," he said, extending his hand once more.
She took it with a pout.
"I thought you had gone fishing," said she petulantly.
"We started," he answered; "but we broke down between here and Samoset, so we gave it up."
Patty looked about her curiously. The arbor was half a dozen feet across, with wall and ceiling of green boughs. It was a grotto dug in a huge emerald. On one side an opening had been cut in the foliage, so as to afford a view of the river, and the mountains beyond, now blue and purple with autumn hazes. The castle was securely railed in, and furnished with three or four rustic seats, besides a small table, or rather shelf, supported by a living bough. Upon this lay an open book, in which the lawyer had apparently been reading.
"I trust my cigar does not trouble you," he said: "I'll drop it if it does."
"Not in the least."