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 forbidden him to seek her he might have disobeyed the command, accepting the consequences cheerfully. But a request was a different matter; there was no getting by that word "please!" Still, he thought, miserably, why quibble about that? The sum of it all was that to her he was merely "one of the few acquaintances!" Doubtless he had amused her—when he had not provoked her—and for that she had written him a civil note of farewell as she might have tossed a coin to a mountebank. What a fool he had been! What a silly-*acting ass! As though a woman's heart could be won with jokes and grimaces!

Presently he began to consider what he should do. To stay on here at Maple Green, to be reminded every instant of her, was out of the question;