promised wife?' asked King, with a
sneer.

"Charlie sprang at King, and had his hand on his throat in an instant;
but Allen and I interfered to part them. It was no difficult matter, for
Darling, excited as he was, felt the force of my observations on the
quarrel. I said: 'Shall a trifling girl make us enemies, when she has so
behaved that no one of us can trust her. You, Darling, do not, cannot
have confidence in her promise, after all you have this night learned.
You had best accept my first suggestion, and join with the rest of us in
renouncing her forever and at once.'

"'That _I_ will not,' broke out King, vehemently. 'Her word is no better
than her acts, and I have as much right to her as Charlie Darling, or
either of you, and I'll not give up the right to a man of you.'

"'We'll have to fight a four-cornered duel,' remarked Tom Allen,
beginning to see the ludicrous side of the affair. 'Shall we choose up,
two on a side?'

"'I will withdraw my pretensions,' I reiterated, 'if the others will do
so, or even if King and Allen will quit the field to Charlie, who feels
himself bound by Teresa's promise to him.'

"'I have said I would not withdraw,' replied King, sullenly. And thus we
contended, hot-browed and angry-voiced, for more than an hour. Then
rough but practical Tom proposed a scheme, which was no less than to
compel Teresa to decide between us. After long deliberation, an
agreement was entered into, and I hope I shall not shock you too much
when I tell you what it was."

Kittredge paused, and looked at me doubtingly. I glanced aside at the
over-hanging trees, the glints of sunshine on the bank, a brown bird
among the leaves, at anything, rather than him, for he was living over
again the excitement of that time, and his face was not pleasant to
study. After a little waiting, I answered:

"I must know the remainder of the story, since I know so much; what did
you agree upon?"

"A plan was laid by which Teresa should be confronted with her four
lovers, and forced to explain her conduct. To carry out our design it
was necessary to use artifice, and I was chosen as the one who should
conduct the affair. I invited her to accompany me to a neighboring
farm-house to meet the young folks of the settlement. There was nothing
unusual in this, as in those primitive times great latitude was granted
to young people in their social intercourse. To mount her horse and ride
several miles to a neighbor's house with a