ontinued to reason with himself:

"In the first place, I can't tell which of them I like best; therefore
I don't love either of them. In the second place, it will be years
before I shall draw enough money to marry on."

There was a third place, but Evan wanted to avoid it, for in that
"place" sat Frankie Arling. The Bonehead also sat there, with his arms
around Frankie.

Unable to banish this picture from his imagination, Evan finally
delivered himself up to thoughts of Frankie: only in that way could he
depose the redoubtable Porter.

The more Evan compared Frankie with Julia Watersea and Lily Allen, and
with others whom he had met, the surer he felt, of her superiority. He
regretted having hurt her at his home on Christmas Day, and knew he had
done it because he cared for her. Thoughts of Perry gave him a sick
feeling in his vitals, but he could not convince himself that Frankie
cared anything about "the porter." What had become of all the other
Hometon bankclerks she had temporarily tantalized?

In his quiet room the Banfield teller mused. After two years of
banking he felt himself further from Frankie Arling than he had felt
the day he went away. He was within a few days of nineteen now; his
views on everything had undergone a change. Yet, he knew that he was
more desirous than ever of marrying Frankie. There are moments when we
see our hearts before us under an X-ray more wonderful than that used
in medicine. Evan was given a glimpse of his inmost self, and what he
saw was startling to him. He knew he loved Frankie Arling, and that he
would be happy if he married her, even at nineteen! Age probably has
less to do with the proper kind of marriage than is often supposed.
There are boys of seventeen who would make good husbands, whereas some
men are never fit. Evan knew he could have settled down at nineteen
and made a success of marriage--if he could only have afforded it.

Knowing, though, the futility of dreaming against such odds as seven
dollars a week and the bank system of increases, he forced his mind off
matrimony and thought of Frankie only as an unattainable object he
loved. In the midst of his dreaming loomed up again visions of other
girls, chiefly Julia and Lily. He felt guilty for having shown them
attention. He experienced remorse, for it was possible he had (the
phrase passed facetiously through his brain) "built better than he
knew." The letters just burnt were not at all comfo