Courtland, with a shadow of
trouble in his eyes, always put her off. He admitted that he had thought
of politics, but was not ready yet to say what he would do.

So spring came on, with its final examinations, and Commencement drawing
nearer every day.

Through it all Courtland found much time to be with Gila; often in
company, or flashing through a crowded thoroughfare by her side;
following her fancy; excusing her follies; laying her mistakes and
indiscretions to her youth and innocence; always trying to lead up to
his great desire, that she might see his Christ.

Tennelly watched the whole performance anxiously. He wanted Courtland to
be drawn out of what he considered his "morbid" state, but not at the
price of his peace of mind. He was very sure that Courtland ought not to
marry Gila. He was equally sure that she meant nothing serious in her
present relation to Courtland. He felt himself responsible in a way
because he had agreed in the plot with his uncle to start her on this
campaign. But if Courtland should come out of it with a broken heart,
what then?

It was just a week before Commencement that the crisis came.

Gila had summoned Courtland to her.

Gila, in her most imperial mood, wearing a bewildering imported frock
whose simple intricacies and daring contrasts were well calculated to
upbear a determined spirit in a supreme combat, awaited his coming
impatiently. She knew that he had that day received another offer from
Ramsey Thomas, tempting in the extreme, and baited with alluring
possibilities that certainly were dazzling to her if they were not to
her lover. She meant to make him tell her of the offer, and she meant to
make him accept it that very afternoon and clinch the contract by
telephoning the acceptance to the telegraph-office before he left her
home.

Courtland was tired. He had been through a hard week of examinations,
he had been on several committees, and had a number of important class
meetings, and the like. There had been functions galore to attend, and
late hours that were unavoidable. He had come to her hoping for a rest
and the joy of her society. Just to watch her dainty grace as she moved
about a room, handling the tea things and giving him a delicate sandwich
or a crisp cake, filled him with joy and soothed his troubled spirit; it
was so like his ideal of what a woman should be.

But Gila was not handing out tea that afternoon. She had other fish to
fry, and she went at her