Page:Barbour--Peggy in the rain.djvu/30

 'Perhaps," replied the girl, gathering up the reins. "Perhaps! Oh, I say!"

She smiled and held down a small hand in a wet glove. "If we don't meet again you may credit yourself with having played the part of valiant knight beautifully. And the lady in distress thanks you very, very much indeed."

"Well—but—I shall want to know about you! Whether you caught cold, you know, or—or anything."

"I don't catch colds. You need not have any uneasiness about me," she answered with a smile.

"In the stories I have read," said Gordon plaintively, "the rescued Princesses are more—are much kinder."

"But I'm not a Princess, Mr. Ames."

"Then we have met before!" he exclaimed eagerly.

"No, never."

"But you know my name?"

"Why not?" She smiled. "Do you suppose that a gentleman who inherits—how many millions is it?—Fifty? A hundred?—when he is just out of college can escape attention? You have