"No, mother," he answered; "what I am doing is the merest consequence of the way you brought us up."
"I don't understand that!" she returned.
"You always taught us to do the best we could for our visitors. So when I fail to interest them, I try to amuse them."
"But you need not make a fool of yourself!"
"It is better to make a fool of myself, than let Miss Palmer make a fool of—a great man!"
"Mr. Ian," said Christina, "it is not of yourself but of me you have been making a fool.—I deserved it!" she added, and burst into tears.
"Miss Palmer," said Ian, "I will drop my foolishness, if you will drop your fun."
"I will," answered Christina.
And Ian read them the poem beginning—
"Three years she grew in sun and shower."