"They're conceited enough, Heaven knows, already." That evening, at dinner, however, the two men exhibited no trace of the restraint or uneasiness of the previous day.

If they were less impulsive and exuberant, they were still frank and interested, and if the term could be used in connection with men apparently trained to neither self-control nor repose, there was a certain gentle dignity in their manner which for the time had the effect of lifting them a little above the social level of their entertainers.

For even with all their predisposition to the strangers, Kate and Mrs.Hale had always retained a conscious attitude of gentle condescension and superiority towards them--an attitude not inconsistent with a stronger feeling, nor altogether unprovocative of it; yet this evening they found themselves impressed with something more than an equality in the men who had amused and interested them, and they were perhaps a little more critical and doubtful of their own power.

Mrs.Hale's little girl, who had appreciated only the seriousness of the situation, had made her own application of it.

"Are you dow'in' away from aunt Kate and mamma ?" she asked, in an interval of silence.
"How else can I get you the red snow we saw at sunset, the other day, on the peak yonder ?" said Lee gayly.