"Will you not kiss me good-by?"
Gay hesitated. "Uncle George mightn't like it," he said. "He's awfully particular about the things that belong to him." Then the masquerader dropped his mask altogether, and a soft kiss fell on the lady's ungloved hand. "That makes me your knight—I'm mother's too."
"I accept your allegiance," said Miss Berkeley, simply; but there was such a strange expression in her eyes that guilty Gay made a sudden rush for the door.
"She suspects me!" thought the culprit. "She's too much of a brick to tell, though, so I'm safe."
An instant later Gay regretted this rash assertion. In jumping off the car-steps the horrid skirts caught and he fell into Uncle George's arms just as that young gentleman was about to board the train.
"Hello!" said Uncle George, staring slightly, "what are you doing here?"
CHAPTER VIII
A SCENE AT ROSE COTTAGE
"Where are you going? Have you lost your tongue, Brownie?"