As he stopped to rehearse the words over again in his mind, Elinor turned about suddenly and faced him.
“Tell me, Panama, how is Lefty coming along?”
Her sudden manner of direct approach startled him so, that he dropped the ring from his hand and without looking to see where it fell, stammered, “Oh—er—Lefty? Oh, yeah, he’s fine! Sure, he’s over in camp now, workin’!”
He hated to search for the lost ring while Elinor was watching, though he couldn’t very well afford to lose it. Intensely embarrassed, he began to look about the ground as the girl watched him, keenly amused.
“Did you drop something?” she asked.
“No, well, yes—but it’s nothing,” he fabricated, lighting a match and dropping to his knees to search the path more thoroughly, “I’ll find it in a minute.”
Her expression changed to one of interest as she dropped down beside him, helping in the search for whatever the lost object might be.
“Please don’t bother, Elinor,” he begged as he looked up and found her beside him. “Really, it ain’t much and I know just where it dropped.”
Just then, her eyes fell upon a small, sparkling object a few inches from where she was resting on her knees. She reached forward and picked up the ring in her hand, unnoticed by Panama who was still delving into the grass by the roadway.
She rose to her feet and looked at the small diamond, suddenly struck by the realization that he had brought her all the way out here, hoping to gain enough courage to propose. Her eyes softened and she gazed down at Panama tenderly, shaking her head as she sympathized with the man over the futility of his hopes just as she pitied herself over her own failure to win Lefty.