ousand pieces by the pounding of her heart, which urged her to throw
her arms around him and beg him to tell her what was really wrong--oh,
why wouldn't he tell her!

"You'll think of this dear," he said, "in a few years when you are, I
hope, happily married to the man of your choice, and you will have a
kindly thought for me, and know I was not a bad sort--you'll remember
every word of this Pearl, and you will understand that what is
strange to you now--and you will perhaps think of me--and if not with
pleasure, it will at least be without pain."

He wanted to give her the roses, which had come just a few moments
before she came in, but somehow he could not frame a casual word of
greeting. He would send them to her.

She was going now.

"Pearl, dearest Pearl," he cried "I cannot let you go like this--and
yet--it's best for both of us."

"Sure it is," she said, smiling tightly, to keep her lips from
quivering. "I'm feeling fine over it all." The pain in his voice made
her play up to her part.

"I can't even kiss you, dear,'" he said. "I don't want you to have one
bitter memory of this. I want you to know I was square--and loved you
too well to take the kiss, which in after life might sting your face
when you thought that I took advantage of your youth. A young girl's
first kiss is too sacred a thing."

Suddenly Pearl's resolution broke down. It was the drawn look in his
face, and its strange pallor.

She reached up and kissed his cheek.

"A little dab of a kiss like that won't leave a sting on any one's
face," she said.

She was gone!

CHAPTER V

WHERE MRS. CROCKS THREW THE SWITCH

When Pearl came out of the doctor's office into the sunshine of the
village street, she had but one thought--one overwhelming desire,
expressed in the way she held her head, and the firm beat of her
low-heeled shoes on the sidewalk--she must get away where she would
not see him or the people she knew. She realized that whatever it was
that had come between them was painful to him, and that he really
cared for her. To see her, would be hard on him, embarrassing to them
both, and she would do her share by going away--and she remembered,
with a fresh pang--that when she had spoken of this, he had made no
objection, thus confirming her decision that for her to go would be
the best way.

The three glorious years, so full of hopes and dreams, were over!
Pearl's house of hopes had fallen! All was over! And it was not his