rs, until Betty felt her own eyelids flutter and
was grateful for the length of her dark lashes which swept like a cloud
before her vision. For actually she was blushing in the most absurd
and guilty fashion, as though she had done something for which she
should feel ashamed.

"Good evening," Anthony returned, and during the rest of the dinner
party he never voluntarily addressed a single remark to her.

Betty need not have been afraid that he might interfere with her
opportunity for conversation with John Everett. For although Anthony
answered politely any questions that she put to him and listened to
whatever she wished to say, the greater part of his time he devoted to
talking with Miss McMurtry and to pursuing his own train of thought.

For if the young man had originally been doubtful as to whether it was
wise for him to accept Meg Everett's invitation, he was glad now with
all his heart. Just what this evening was giving him he had needed.
Glancing up and down the table, his own resolution was thereby
strengthened. If there had been moments when he had wavered, when it
had seemed easier to slip back into his old way of life and to enjoy
the companions who were always ready to join hands, he could hereafter
recall this experience and Betty's treatment of him, as well as the
sight of the other young men guests.

Some day there should be another reckoning. These fellows were largely
what their fathers had made them; they had birth, schooling, the
influences of cultured homes. But out in the big world a man's own
grit and will and ability to keep on working in the face of every
difficulty counted in the long run. Anthony clenched his teeth,
feeling his backbone actually stiffen with the strength of his
resolution. Then he had the humor and good sense to laugh at himself
and to begin taking more pleasure in his surroundings.

Here were all the Camp Fire girls whom his sister had talked and
written so much about, excepting the two whose absence the others were
lamenting, Polly and Esther. Here also was the German professor, who
had lately moved into the Ashton house, sitting on the further side of
Miss McMurtry and certainly absorbing all of her attention that he
possibly dared. But Anthony did not mind; he had a kind of fellow
feeling for Herr Crippen, who was poor and evidently not of much
interest or importance in the Lady Betty's estimation. There at the
farther end of the table must be Miss Rose Dye