at the girl had forgotten Williams's very existence
in the moment of her joy. Her forgetfulness was the best evidence that
Williams was nothing to her; but, I confess, her failure to speak of him
had an ugly appearance. Williams turned to Rita, and, with a feeling of
satisfaction because Dic was present, handed her a small package,
saying:--

"I have brought you a little Christmas gift."

Rita hesitatingly accepted the package with a whispered "Thank you," and
Mrs. Bays stepped to her side, exclaiming:--

"Ah, how kind of you, Mr. Williams."

Rita, Mrs. Bays, and Williams were facing the fire, and Dic stood back
in the shadow of the room. A deep, black shadow it was to Dic.

Mrs. Bays, taking the package from Rita's hand, opened it; and there,
nestling in a bed of blue velvet, was a tiny watch, rich with jewels,
and far more beautiful than the one Dic had brought from New York.
Encircling the watch were many folds of a massive gold chain. Mrs. Bays
held the watch up to the light of the firelight, and Dic, with an aching
sensation in the region of his heart, saw its richness at a glance. He
knew at once that the giver must be a man of wealth; and when Mrs. Bays
delightedly threw the gold chain over Rita's head, and placed the watch
in her unresisting hand, he remarked that he must be going. Poor,
terrified Rita did not hear Dic's words. Receiving no reply, he took his
hat from the floor where he had dropped it on entering the room several
centuries before, opened the door, and walked out.

All that I have narrated as taking place after Williams entered upon the
scene occurred within the space of two or three minutes, and Rita first
learned that Dic was going when she heard the door close.

"Dic!" she cried, and started to follow him, but her mother caught her
wrist and said sternly:--

"Stay here, Rita. Don't go to the door."

"But, mother--"

"Stay here, I command you," and Rita did not go to the door. Dic met Mr.
Bays at the gate, paused for a word of greeting, and plunged into the
snow-covered forest, while the words "during the last four months" rang
in his ears with a din that was almost maddening.

"She might have told me," he muttered, speaking as if to the storm.
"While I have been thinking of her every moment, she has been listening
to him. But her letters were full of love. She surely loved me when I
met her two hours ago. No woman could feign love so perfectly. She must
love me. I can't believe ot