A Dozen Ways Of Love

ting as heart could desire. The inhabitants of the city build wooden villas there, and spend the long warm days in boats upon the water. The families that live in these wooden

ould have our morning swim and our evening sail; an

ed, so these bachelors said to each other-'Go to; we will put our pence t

and each man who could buy a boat tethered it there. The property, boats excepted, was in common. By and by they bought a field in which they grew vegetables; later they bought two cows and a pasture. The produce of the herd and the farm helped to fur

ts upon it like a mystical lady-love, ever changeful and ever charming. Then, too, there was the contrast with the hot city; the sense of need fulfilled makes men good-natured. The one se

ion, to cheat them afterwards about the boundaries. Their united rage waxed hot against Johns, and he, on his side, did nothing to propitiate. The quarrel came to no end; it was a feud. 'Esprit de corps,' like the

d a bed in the dormitory at the hoyden age of nineteen. He had a tendency to chubbiness, and his moustache, when it did come, was merely a silken whisp, hardly visible. He did some fagging in return

went well with the men and their boats and the Baby, until, at length, upon one fateful day for the l

and had not held the same relation to old Johns for twenty-five years. Still, it was true she had never been in the old man's

chelors from the city. She was tall-five foot eight in her stockings; all her muscles were well developed; there was nothing sylph-like about her waist, but all her motions had a strong, gentle grace of their own that bespoke health and dignity. She had a profession, too, which was much beneath most of the be-crimped and smile-wreathed maidens who basked in the favour of the bachelors. She had been to New York and

shunned such paths, and had to be much sought after before they were found. Now it chanced that Helen Johns was seen to row alone in her uncle's boat right across the very front of the Syndicate boat-house, at the very hour when the assembled members were eating roast beef upon the verandah above and arriving at their decisions concerning her, and she did not look as if she cared in the least whether twenty-four pair of eyes were

aste, but, for his part, he thought she looked 'the jolliest girl' he had ever seen. In his heart he meant that he thought she

rely. 'Baby,' they said, 'if you have any dealings with

bank all day; he had no dollars to spare, there was no other place upon the lake where he could afford to live, and he had a canoe of his own which his uncle had given him. Hiawatha did not love the darling of his creation more than

the obscurity he ran across the Johns' farm. Fate, laughing in her sleeve, led him to pass with noiseless footsteps quite near the house itself; then she was content to leave him to his own devices, for through the open window he caught sight of Helen Johns doing her gymnastics. Her figure was all aglow with the yellow lamplight; s

e with one arm waved toward heaven, an angel all ready, save the wings, for aerial flight. Sometimes she seemed to hover above the ground like a running Mercury. Someti

n the beams from the bright interior and all the beautiful pictures that they brought with them. It was only when the show was over that he noiseles

just enough to take their sail creeping over the rippled water, no more. The lake within a mile of the shore was thickly strewn with small yachts, boats, and canoes. Upon the green shore the colours of the gaily painted villas could still be seen among the trees, and most

tiller and managed the sails. They were a silent pair, the one in a suit of tweeds with

d the sail swung over her head with a sound of fluttering wind. When she was allowed to take her seat after this little hurly-burly the two lighthouses upon the lake and all the lights upon the shore had performed a mysterious dance; they all lay

ing greetings were spoken across the dark space. By the time they got to the plac

ng-boat to the buoy which belonged to the house whither

ld hardly see it. The sail hung limp, wrinkled, and motionless. She began to sing, and there alone

ng into the cove. She heard the sound of swaying among all the trees on the shore. She looked up and saw that the

e strained her eyes, but could not see how far she was from the near shore. She looked on the other side and it seemed to her that the lights

in her shouts rang out, and she did not wait to hear an answer. She thought

d the boat was leaping. Her throat was hoarse

o have been, and just in the attitude in which he always stood, was a slight white figure. A new sort of fear took possession o

eath to which she was hastening, the Angel o

ay; every movement of the figure at the helm was so familiar and natural that comfort began to steal into her heart. Plain

wildly, Helen could not believe that her companion was angel

nd steadied herself by the s

at seemed like a signal of p

r distant. She looked above and saw breaks in the darknes

as still whistling and blowing, but she feared its f

d, but she was afraid to do it, and that for two reasons: if he was a spirit she had reason fo

for a minute or two he stood not far f

but she still had not courage to

elen sprung out. Her feet were no sooner safe upon it than the boat was allowed to move away

o small anxiety. When he saw that his niece w

the puffs of wind. I hope it was none of those Syndicate men; they

d,' asserted Helen. 'I don't know what his name was;

is wife. The aunt looked over her spectacles with s

son that she came to no definite conclusion was that she liked the state of wonder better. Helen was a modern girl; she had fr

s found tethered as usual to

ne. They had fallen into the habit of taking the Baby by the throat and asking him in trenchant tones, 'Have you spoken to her?' The Baby found it convenient to be able to give a truthful negative, no

dence, but he meditated some great step and 'lay low.' What or when the irrevocable move was to b

one could hide if necessary, but they were prickly, uncomfortable to nestle against, and the unmown grass absorbed an immense quantity of dew. In imagination, however, the Baby wandered on pastoral slopes and in classic shades. At first he paid his visits at night when the family were asleep, and he slipped about so quietly that no one but the horse and the cow need know wher

ost is often the thin

on the verandah; he moved like a cat, for he supposed that the stalwart Johns was within. From this better point of view, peeping about, he now surveyed the whole interior of the small drawing-r

igure passing among the maple shadows. These glimpses had added point and colour to all the mystical fancies that clustered round the helmsman of the yacht. She hardly believed that some guardian spirit was protecting her in visible semblance, or that some human Prince Charming, more kingly and w

sight of the Baby's white flannels through the dark window pane, she recognised the figure of her dreams and, having long ago made up her mi

acrobat's skill, and with head in front and nimble feet he darted off under the maple trees: but he had to reckon with an agile maiden. Helen had

had escaped. Vain thought! He had not considered the new education. Over the

as excitement in the air and they sniffed it; they were both young and

indows, and one to the rugged bank that rose from the shore. The Baby's one mad desire was to conceal his identity.

ety darted across his excited brain. Would those cantering animals jump after and crush her beneath their feet, or would she fall on the r

leap. Too late to stop, the hesitation was fatal to fair performance. The Baby

e him, deliberately star

d the Baby, because

e Baby!' she exclaimed wit

e; I'll never have anything mo

nd the significance of

me clear; he tried to

ot hurt?'

ager, youthful politeness); 'it's only-it's only

in bandages thereby. Just now he was quick enough to take in the situation: Helen despised him, it was neck or nothing, he must do all his pleading once for all, and the compensation for

es; she was shocked and pitiful, but she was

elp you, but you know it's entirely your own fau

aded the Baby, 'I-I-you really

nest his young face was she might have l

), 'Was it you who got on to ou

-rather dangerous situation.' The Baby was using his pre

she might have been touched; but she did not even know that the leg was broken. She went on

know, of course, one of us must have gone when we heard you singing out for help, and I was only too happy, frightfully happy, I am sure-a

to have her feel under the slightest obligation to him; but as far as her perceptions were concerned, the b

'Why did you not speak a

The first was the order which his friends in the Syndicate boat had called after him

know, if you'd only believe me-I love you so much, Miss Johns, I couldn't say anyt

len sharply, '

f it is, I'm so confoundedly poor; they give me no sort of a screw at all at the bank, I do assure you. But, Miss Johns, my uncle is one of the directors; he's sure to give me a leg up before very long, and if you only knew-oh! really if you only knew--,' words failed him quite whe

the extravagant words in the boyi

sorry you have taken this fancy for me. I think you will find some other girl very soon whom you will like better; I

l think over it, Miss Johns; I wish you would say that I might know you and co

slightest use,' sh

bore you any more, but do, Miss Johns, do, do

gentleness carried conviction. 'I could never care for you. You are not at all the sort of man I could eve

ndicate boat-house and told of the accident, the b

s interview with Helen, and he kept a very distinct remembrance of it. Both he and the

me genuine fervour, and hi