"Why?" with an irrepressible blush.
"I wanted to know—that is all. Brownie, Aunt Conway, and I are going abroad this spring to stay, oh, ever so long."
He is watching her narrowly. She knows it, and changes her sudden start into one of pretty affected surprise.
"Oh, indeed! Will wedding cards and the 'fair Cordelia' bear you company?"
"Not if some one else will. Brownie, cannot you guess why I have come here this evening?" his voice growing eagerly earnest, a genuine love and earnestness shining in his eyes.
"To make a New Year's call, I guess," she answers, with innocent unconsciousness in her large dark eyes, and the faintest dimples around her lips.
"Guess again, Brownie?"
"I cannot; I have not the faintest idea," turning slightly from him.
"Then, Brownie," taking her unwilling hand in his. "I have come to ask you for a New Year's gift."
A scarlet geranium is fastened in with the lace at her throat. She plucks it out and holds it toward him with a mischievous smile.