One evening she passed when he, not expecting her, was leaning against his garden fence with a book in his hand.

She stopped under the pine.
"Mr.Dale," she said softly, "I want to thank you for your flowers." Jasper, startled, wished that he might sink into the ground.

His anguish of embarrassment made her smile a little.

He could not speak, so she went on gently.
"It has been so good of you.

They have given me so much pleasure--I wish you could know how much." "It was nothing--nothing," stammered Jasper.