u will--will doubt me. That would kill me, Dic;
I really believe it would."

"Don't worry on that score," replied Dic, placing his hand on her heart,
"there is nothing but truth here."

"I hope not, Dic," she replied. She could not boast even of her
fidelity. There might be many sorts of evil in that heart, for all she
knew.

"Indeed, there is not," said Dic, tenderly. "If by any chance we should
ever be separated,--if we should ever lose each other,--it will not be
because of your bad faith."

"But, Dic," cried Rita, "that terrible 'if.' It is the first time you
ever used the word with reference to us."

"It means nothing, Rita," answered Dic, reassuringly. "There can be no
'if' between you and me. As for Williams, you must receive him and treat
him kindly. Tom is his clerk, and I should hate to see Tom lose his
position. Tom is a mighty good fellow. You say your father owes Williams
a large debt. He might, if he chose, act ugly. Therefore, you must act
prettily. Poor Williams! I'm sorry for him. We will give them all the
slip when I return."

The slip came in an unexpected manner, and Dic did not go to New York.

Rita's continued aversion to Williams, instead of cooling that young
man's ardor, fired it to a degree previously unknown in the cool-blooded
Williams family. He had visited his cultured home for the purpose of
dilating upon the many charms of body, soul, and mind possessed by this
fair girl of the wilderness. His parents, knowing him to be a young man
of sound Mayflower judgment and worthy to be trusted for making a good,
sensible bargain in all matters of business, including matrimony,
readily gave their consent, and offered him his father's place at the
head of the agricultural firm, in case he should marry. They were wise
enough to know that a young man well married is a young man well made;
and they had no doubt, judging from Roger's description, that Rita was
the girl of girls.

Williams did not tell his parents that up to that time his wooing had
been in vain, and they, with good reason, did not conceive it possible
that any girl in her right mind would refuse their son. Roger was
willing, Roger's parents were willing, Rita's parents were eager for the
match; every person and everything needful were on his side, save one
small girl. Roger thought that trifling obstacle would soon yield to the
pressure of circumstances, the persuasion of conditions, and the charm
of his own personality. He and