ve enough to take
up law; or perhaps I'll get a chance in some small college. Only, to
teach in a real college means _work_," and he laughed.

"But--but don't you like to work?" queried Janice, doubtfully.

"Now, Janice! who really _likes_ work?" demanded the young man, lightly.
"If we can get through the world without much effort, why not take it
easily?"

"That is not _my_ idea of what we are put in the world for--just to
drift along with the current."

"Oh, dear, me! what a very strenuous person you are," said the young
man, still teasingly. "And--I am afraid--you'd be a most uncomfortable
person to have around all the time. Though that doesn't sound gallant, I
admit."

Janice laughed. "I tell you what it is," she observed, not at all shaken
by the young man's remark, "I shouldn't want to feel that there wasn't
something in life to get by going after it."

"'By going after it?'" repeated the young man, in some puzzlement.

"Yes. You say I'd be an uncomfortable comrade. And I expect you're
right. Especially for a downright _lazy_ person."

"Oh, oh!" he cried. "That was a hard hit."

"You're not really lazy, you know," she pursued, coolly. "You only
haven't been 'woke up' yet."

"I believe that's worse than your former statement," he cried, rather
ruefully now. "I suppose I _do_ drift with the current."

"Well!"

"What kind of a fellow do you expect to marry, Janice?" he asked, with a
twinkle in his eye.

"Why, I'll tell you," said the girl, practically and without a shadow of
false modesty. "I expect a man to prove himself good for something in
the world before he even _asks_ me to marry him."

"Goodness me! he must be a millionaire, or president, or something like
that?" chuckled Nelson.

"Nothing at all so great," she returned, with some heat. "I don't care
if he's right down _poor_, if only he has been successful in
accomplishing some really hard thing--something that shows the metal
he's made of. No namby-pamby young man for me. No, sir! They can keep
away," and Janice ended her rather serious speech with a laugh and a
toss of her head.

"I shall bear your strictures in mind, Miss Day," declared Haley, with
mock gravity. "I see very plainly what you mean. The young St. George
who wears your colors must have slain his dragon."

"At least," Janice returned, softly, "he must have shown his willingness
to kill the horrid thing."

The short winter day was already drawing to a close when the tele