ointing toward the house
with his thumb.

"How? In what way?" inquired the girl.

"Don't you find him interesting?" asked Billy.

For reply she laughed softly. The question was not worth answering. The
bachelor heart had felt a strong twinge of jealousy on Williams's
account, because it knew that with wealth, an attractive person, and
full knowledge of the world, Williams would, in the long run, prove a
dangerous rival to any man who was not upon the field. The fact that
Rita dismissed him with a laugh did not entirely reassure the bachelor
heart. It told only what was already known, that she loved Dic with all
the intensity of her nature. But Billy also knew that many a girl with
such a love in her heart for one man had married another. Rita, he
feared, could not stand against the domineering will of her mother; and,
should Williams ply his suit, Billy felt sure he would have a stubborn,
potent ally in the hard Chief Justice. There was, of course, an "if,"
but it might easily be turned into a terrible "is"--terrible for Billy,
Dic, and Rita. Billy had grown used to the thought that Rita would some
day become Dic's wife, and after the first spasm of pain the thought had
brought joy; but any other man than Dic was a different proposition, and
Billy's jealousy was easily and painfully aroused. He endured a species
of vicarious suffering while Dic was not present to suffer for himself.
Soon he began to long for Dic's return that he might do his own
suffering.

Billy's question concerning Williams had crystallized Rita's feeling
that the "fellow in there" was "making up" to her, and when she returned
to the house that evening, she had few words for Roger.

Monday Rita was unusually industrious during the day, but the evening
seemed long. She was not uncivil to her father's guest, but she did not
sit by him on the edge of the porch as she had done upon the first
evening of his visit. He frequently came to her side, but she as
frequently made an adroit excuse to leave him. She did not dislike him,
but she had found him growing too attentive. This girl was honest from
the top of her head to the tips of her toes, and longed to let Williams
understand that she was the property of another man to whom she would be
true in the spirit and in the letter.

Tuesday morning the guests departed. Mrs. Bays urgently invited Williams
to return, and he, despite Rita's silence, assured his hostess that he
would accept her invitation. T