had crept into bed, she could not think
coherently, but soon consciousness came in an ingulfing flood.
Williams's kisses seemed to stick to her. She rubbed her lips till they
were raw, but still the clinging pollution seemed to penetrate to her
soul. Her first coherent thought, of course, was of Dic. No man but he
had ever, till that night, touched her lips, and with him a kiss was a
sacrament. Now he would scorn her. The field of her disaster seemed to
broaden, as she thought of it, and with the chastity of her lips she
felt that she had lost everything worth having in life. Abandoning her
pillow, she covered her head with the counterpane, and drawing her knees
to her breast, lay trembling and sobbing. Dic was lost to her. There
seemed to be no other possible outcome to the present situation. She
feared Williams as never before, and felt that she was in his clutches
beyond escape. The situation seemed hopeless beyond even the reach of
prayer, her usual refuge, and she did not pray. She knew of her father's
debt to Williams, and had always feared that Tom was not to be trusted.
She was convinced without evidence other than Williams's words that he
had told the truth, and she knew that ruin and disgrace for her father
and Tom waited upon a nod from the man whom she hated, and that the nod
waited upon her frown.

The next morning Rita's face lacked much of its wonted beauty. Her eyes
were red and dim, the cheeks were pale and dim, her lips were blue and
dim, and all the world, seen by her eyes, was dark and dim. The first
thing that must be done, of course, was to tell Dic of the ravaged kiss.
She had no more desire to conceal that terrible fact from him than a
wounded man has to deceive the surgeon. He must be told without delay,
even should he at once spurn her forever.

She feared Williams, bearing in mind his threat, and determined first to
pledge Dic to secrecy, and then to tell him of her disgrace. She wrote
to him, begging him to come to her at once; and he lost no time in
going.

He arrived at the Bays house an hour past noon, and Rita soon had him to
herself in the front parlor. When they entered the room and were alone
he took her hand; but she withdrew it, saying:--

"No, no; wait till you hear what has happened."

He readily saw that something terrible had transpired. "What is it,
Rita? Tell me quickly."

"I can't, Dic, till I have your solemn promise that you will never
repeat what I am about to tell y