nd deliberate.
He had fallen in love because it was the correct thing for a young
collegian, engaged in the study of the humanities, to be in love, and
made him feel more like a man than smoking, drinking, or even sporting a
stove-pipe hat and cane. Vanity aside, it was very jolly to have a fine,
nice girl who thought no end of a fellow, to walk, talk, and sing with,
and to have in mind when one sang the college songs about love and wine
with the fellows. And it gave him also a very agreeable sense of
superior experience as he mingled in their discussions of women and the
tender passion.

But withal he was a conscientious, kind-hearted young fellow enough,
and had suffered occasional qualms of conscience when little words or
incidents had impressed him with the knowledge that Annie's love for him
was a more serious matter than his for her. He felt that by insisting on
exchanging the pure gold of her earnest affection for the pinchbeck of
his passing fancy, she was making a rogue of him. He should be in no
position to marry for years, nor did he want to; and if he had wanted
to, though he felt terribly hard-hearted when he owned it to himself,
his feeling toward Annie was not quite so deep as to be a real wish
to marry her. As his last year in college approached its end, he had
thought more and more of these things, and had returned from his last
vacation determined to begin to draw gradually away from her, and
without any shock to bring their relations back to the footing of
friendship. The idea seemed a very plausible one, but it is scarcely
necessary to state that, living in the same house, and frequently alone
with her, it took about a week and a few dozen reproachful glances from
grieving eyes to melt this artificial ice with a freshet of affection,
and when, a couple of months later, he calmly reviewed the situation, he
found himself involved perceptibly deeper than ever, on account of the
attempt at extrication.

Only two or three weeks of the term remained, and it was too late to
repeat the unsuccessful experiment. He had tried his best and failed,
and nothing remained but to be as happy as possible with her in the
short time left. Then she must get over her disappointment as other
girls did in like cases. No doubt some woman would hurt his feelings
some day, and so make it square. He took much satisfaction in this
reflection. But such cynical philosophy did not lull his conscience,
which alternately inspired h