One who has all the cares of humanity upon his shoulders, as Samuel had, is apt to find that it claims a good deal of time. Samuel did his best to keep his mind upon the weighty problems which he had to solve; but he found that he was continually distracted by the thought of Miss Gladys. Again and again her image would sweep over him, driving everything else from his mind. The vision of her beauty haunted him, sending his imagination upon all sorts of strange excursions and adventures.
She had told him to come again; and he wondered how long he should wait. He was supposed to come to see Sophie—but that, of course, was absurd, for he saw Sophie every night at home.
He waited three days; and then he could wait no longer. The hunger to see her was like a fire smoldering in him.
In the morning, at eleven o'clock, he went to the house and Sophie came to the door. “I'll tell her you're here,” said she, understanding at once. She ran upstairs, and came back telling him to come. “And she's glad, Samuel!” exclaimed the child.
“Won't you come, too?” he asked blunderingly.
“No, she told me not to,” was Sophie's reply.
So he went upstairs to Miss Wygant's own sitting room, and found her in a morning gown, even more beautiful than the one she had worn before.
“You don't know how glad I am to see you,” she said.
Samuel admitted that he didn't know; and he added, “And I don't know why you should be, Miss Gladys.”
Miss Gladys stood looking at him. “You find things interesting, don't you?” she asked.
“Why, yes, Miss Gladys,” he replied.
“And I find things so tiresome.”
“Tiresome!” gasped the boy. “Here—in this house!”
“It seems strange to you, does it?” said she.
“Why you have everything in the world!” he cried.
“Yes, and I'm tired of everything.”
The boy was looking at her in wonder. “It's true,” she said. “Everybody I meet is uninteresting—they live such dull and stupid lives. I'm shut up here in this town—I've got to spend a whole month here this summer!”
Samuel gazed at her, and a wave of pity swept over him. He had felt for some time that she was not happy. So here was one more duty for him—he must help this beautiful young lady to a realization of her own good fortune.
The thought set him athrill. “Ah, but Miss Gladys!” he exclaimed. “Think how much good you do!”
“Good?” said she. “In what way?”
“Why—think of Sophie! How happy you've made her.”
“Yes,” she said dully. “I suppose so.”
“And me!” he exclaimed.
“Have I made you happy?” she inquired.
And he answered, “I have never been so happy in my life.”
All the wonder that was in his soul shone in his eyes, and arrested her gaze. They stood looking at each other; and then she came to him laughing. “Samuel,” she said, “you haven't got that tie right.”
And once more her fingers touched him, and her breath was upon him, and the glory of her set him on fire. A new wave of feeling swept over him, and this time it swamped him completely. His heart was pounding, his brain was reeling; and blindly, like a drunken man—almost without knowing what he was doing—he put out his arms and caught her to him.
And then, in an instant, horror seized him. What had he done? She would repel him—she would drive him from her! He had ruined everything!
But another instant sufficed to show him that this was not the case. And the tide of his feeling swept back redoubled. From the hidden regions of his soul there came new emotions, suddenly awakened—things tremendous and terrifying—never guessed by him before. His manhood came suddenly to consciousness—he lost all his shyness and fear of her. She was his—to do what he pleased with! And he pressed her to him, he half crushed her in his embrace. She closed her eyes, and he kissed her upon the cheeks and upon the lips; then he heard her voice, faint and trembling—“Samuel, I love you!” And within him it was like a great fanfare of trumpets, for wonder and triumph and delirious joy.
Suddenly there came a step in the hall outside. They sprang apart. The door of the room was open; and for an instant he saw wild terror in her eyes.
Then she sank down upon her knees. “Oh, Samuel!” she exclaimed. “My ring!”
“Your ring!” he echoed, dazed.
“My ring!” she said again; then he heard the voice of Mrs. Harris in the doorway. “Your ring, Miss Gladys?”
“I dropped it,” she said; and Samuel sank down upon his knees also.
They sought under the table. “It fell here,” she said. “It's my solitaire.”
“It must have rolled,” said Mrs. Harris, beginning to search.
“Put your head down and look about, Samuel,” commanded Miss Gladys, and Samuel obeyed; but he did not find any ring.
They continued the search for a minute. Mrs. Harris had come back to the table; and suddenly she exclaimed, “Here it is!”
“What!” cried the other. “Why, I looked there!”
“It was under the leg of the table,” explained the housekeeper.
“Ah!” said the other, and put the precious ring back upon her finger.
Samuel was overwhelmed with astonishment; but it was nothing to what he felt a moment later. His goddess turned to him. “No,” she said. “I'm sorry, Samuel,............