its influence upon her attitude to life. She was by
no means sure that she loved that sun-burned boy of romantic memory;
she was by no means sure that she should ever marry him, let his
development in life be what it would. But she felt that her heart was
locked, at least for the present, to all other suitors. She had given
her promise, and that settled the matter. True, he had not come to
claim fulfilment of that promise--and at times she scolded him soundly
in the secrecy of her own mind for his negligence through all these
years--but she was young, with no desire for a decisive step, and while
she chafed under his apparent neglect she felt a sort of tingling dread
of the day when he should neglect her no longer. One thing she knew;
he had implanted in her soul a fine contempt for men of the set which
Carlton typified. They would have thought Dave ignorant; but she knew
that if Dave and Carlton were thrown into the wilderness on their own
resources Dave would thrive and Carlton would starve. Perhaps Dave's
education, although not recognized by any university save the
university of hard knocks, was the more real and valuable of the two.

Notwithstanding her contempt for him, the girl found herself
encouraging Carlton's advances, or at least not meeting them with the
rebuffs which had been her habit toward all other suitors, and Mrs.
Hardy's hopes grew as the attachment apparently developed. But they
were soon to be shattered.

Irene had gone with Carlton to the theatre; afterwards to supper. It
was long past midnight when she reached home; she knocked at her
mother's door and immediately entered. She was splendidly gowned, but
her hair was dishevelled and her cheeks were flushed, and she walked
unsteadily across the room.

"What's the matter, Irene? What's the matter, child? Are you sick?"
cried her mother, springing from her bed. "Oh, dear me, and the doctor
is out!"

"No, I'm not sick," said the girl, brutally. "I'm drunk!"

"Oh, don't say that," said her mother, soothingly. "Proper people do
not become drunk. You may have had too much champagne, and to-morrow
you will have a headache--"

"Mother! I have had too much champagne, but not as much as that
precious Carlton of yours had planned for. I just wanted to see how
despicable he was, and I floated down stream with him as far as I
dared. But just as the current got too swift I struck for shore. Oh,
we made a scene, all right, but nobody