"I don't like to think of it," she replied. "Come, I ask with you now that we forget her as far as possible. She may not disappoint a man like Arnault. Let them both become shadows in the background of memory. Here's a level place. Now for a gallop."
When at last they pulled up, Graydon said, "Your horse is awfully strong and restless to-day."
"Yes; he has not been used enough of late. He'll be quiet before night, for I am enjoying this so much that I should like to return in the same way."
"I am delighted to hear you say so. My spirits begin to rise the moment I am with you, and you are the only woman I ever knew from whose side I could not go with the feeling, 'Well, some other time would suit me now.'"
Her laugh rang out so suddenly and merrily that her horse sprang into a gallop, but she checked him speedily, and thought, with an exultant thrill, "Graydon now has surely revealed an unmistakable symptom." To him she said:
"You amuse me immensely. You are almost as outspoken as little Harry, and, like him, you mistake the impression of the moment for the immutable."
"Now, that's not fair to me. I've been constant to you. Own up, Madge, haven't I?"
With a glance and smile which she never gave to others, and rarely to him, she said:
"I own up. I don't believe a real brother would have been half so nice.".
"Let the past guarantee the future, then. Shake hands against all future misunderstandings."