"Pooh! he ain't'fraid," Socky declared, as he broke away and ran down the trail. Miss Dun-more tried to call him back, but he did not hear her.
"'The beautiful lady'! She wants to see you," he said to Master, his eyes glowing with excitement.
The young man took the boy's hand. They proceeded up the trail in the direction whence Socky had come.
"You ain't'fraid, are you, Uncle Robert?" the boy asked, eager to clear his friend of all unjust suspicion.
"Oh no," Master answered, with a nervous laugh.
"He ain't 'fraid," the boy proclaimed as they came into the presence of Edith Dunmore. "He can kill a bear."
"Afraid only of interrupting your pleasure," said the young man as he approached her. She retreated a step or two and turned half away. The children began to gather flowers.
"I tremble when I hear you coming," said she, timidly. "You are so—" She thought a moment. "Strange," she added, with a smile. She looked up at him curiously. "So very strange to me, sir."
"You are strange to me also," he answered. "I have seen no one like you, and I confess to one great fear."
"What fear?"