n't." There was a note almost of defiance in his voice--one
she had never heard before. "I am through with accepting favors from any
living man. Hereafter I stand in my own shoes, independent of everybody.
My father is the only person who has a right to give me help, and as he
refuses absolutely to do anything more than pay my board, I must fall
back on myself. I didn't see these things in this same way when Uncle
George paid my debts, or even when he took me into his home as his
guest, but I do now."

Something gave a little bound in Kate's heart. This manly independence
was one of the things she had in the old days hoped was in him. What had
come over her former lover, she wondered.

"And another thing, Kate"--she was listening eagerly--she could not
believe it was Harry who was speaking--"if you were to tell me this
moment that you loved me again and would marry me, and I still be as I
am to-day--outlawed by my father and dependent on charity--I would
not do it. I can't live on your money, and I have none of my own.
Furthermore, I owe dear Uncle George his money in such a way that I can
never pay it back except I earn it, and that I can't do here. To borrow
it of somebody else to pay him would be more disgraceful still."

Again her heart gave a bound. Her father had followed the opposite
course, and she knew for a certainty just what some men thought of him,
and she could as easily recall half a dozen younger men who had that
very summer been willing to play the same game with herself. Something
warm and sympathetic struggled up through her reserve.

"Would you stay, Harry, if I asked you to?" she said in almost a
whisper. She had not meant to put the question quite in that way, but
somehow it had asked itself.

He looked at her with his soft brown eyes, the long lashes shading their
tender brilliancy. He had guessed nothing of the newly awakened throb
in her heart; only his situation stared him in the face, and in this she
had no controlling interest; nor could she now that she loved somebody
else.

"No, Kate, it wouldn't alter anything. It would be putting off the day
when it would all have to be done over again; and then it would be still
worse because of the hopes it had raised."

"Do you really mean, Harry, that you would not stay if I asked you?" It
was not her heart which was speaking, but the pride of the woman who had
always had her own way.

"I certainly do," he answered emphatically, his voice rin