Jeffery Farnol

“ Was it possible, I asked myself, as I peered cautiously through the brambles, that Ruth could be singing, actually singing, after what has passed so recently? It was possible. I felt pained and annoyed. I lay still, however, and it was well I did so, for she stopped almost directly opposite me, and reached up for a spray of roses, which—in a manner peculiar to the species—immediately swung up gently out of reach. I felt pleased, somehow.
“Bother!” exclaimed Ruth, and stood up on tip-toe. ”

“ I answered, rather stiffly for me; “and, for another thing, because I am morally certain that it is down there; a rabbit-burrow is just the kind of place a pipe of mine would choose to hide in.”
“What do you intend to do about it?” she went on, more seriously.
“Borrow a spade, and dig him up!” I answered, promptly.
“But you can buy another,” she demurred.
“Exactly! that's so like a woman,” I said, smiling a superior smile. ”

“ I felt annoyed, for, knowing girls as I do, I had been careful to work the affair upon the accepted lines, from the light mood of laughing raillery to seriousness, from seriousness to earnestness, and had almost reached the point where I should have clasped her hand with a “strong yet gentle pressure,” when she brought me up short with the laugh as aforesaid. ”

“ How much more so then——?”
“Oh, I forgot,” she broke in—“my handkerchief! I lost it this afternoon.”
“Anything like this?” I inquired, maliciously, pulling out my own.
“Oh, no,” she laughed; “quite different; besides it had lace at the edges and an 'R' embroidered in one corner.”
“Lace,” I repeated; “oh, then, of course—” and I crammed mine back into my pocket.
“And rather valuable,” put in Ruth, beginning to search among the brambles.
I seated myself upon the gate and, rolling a cigarette, watched her. ”