New York and Berkeley, and treated me and the other
guys like kings or something. Take Megan's store, too"--he was warming
to his subject, so that he failed to notice the darkening of Tessie's
face--"it's a joke compared to New York and San Francisco stores.
Reg'lar hick joint."

Tessie stiffened. Her teeth were set, her eyes sparkled. She tossed
her head. "Well, I'm sure, Mr. Mory, it's good enough for me. Too bad
you had to come home at all now you're so elegant and swell, and
everything. You better go call on Angie Hatton instead of wasting time
on me. She'd probably be tickled to see you."

He stumbled to his feet, then, awkwardly. "Aw, say, Tessie, I didn't
mean--why, say--you don't suppose--why, believe me, I pretty near
busted out cryin' when I saw the Junction eatin' house when my train
came in. And I been thinking of you every minute. There wasn't a
day----"

"Tell that to your swell New York friends. I may be a hick but I ain't
a fool." She was near to tears.

"Why, say, Tess, listen! Listen! If you knew--if you knew--A guy's
got to--he's got no right to----"

And presently Tessie was mollified, but only on the surface. She
smiled and glanced and teased and sparkled. And beneath was terror.
He talked differently. He walked differently. It wasn't his clothes
or the army. It was something else--an ease of manner, a new
leisureliness of glance, an air. Once Tessie had gone to Milwaukee
over Labor Day. It was the extent of her experience as a traveler.
She remembered how superior she had felt for at least two days after.
But Chuck! California! New York! It wasn't the distance that
terrified her. It was his new knowledge, the broadening of his vision,
though she did not know it and certainly could not have put it into
words.

They went walking down by the river to Oneida Springs, and drank some
of the sulphur water that tasted like rotten eggs. Tessie drank it
with little shrieks and shudders and puckered her face up into an
expression indicative of extreme disgust.

"It's good for you," Chuck said, and drank three cups of it, manfully.
"That taste is the mineral qualities the water contains--sulphur and
iron and so forth."

"I don't care," snapped Tessie irritably. "I hate it!" They had often
walked along the river and tasted of the spring water, but Chuck had
never before waxed scientific. They took a boat at Baumann's boathouse
and drifted down the lovely Fox River.

"W