h more interest. He soon found that
successive pairs called each other out in turn, and he had begun to tire
of the game, when Miss Jessie Stevens stopped before him and pertly gave
the word "friendship." Of course he spelt it wrongly, and accompanied
her outside the door. As he kissed her cheek, she drew away her head
quickly:

"I only called you out to give you a chance of kissin' Loo Conklin."

He thought it wiser not to reply to this, and contented himself with
thanking her as they entered the room. He paused before Miss Conklin,
and gave her "bumpkin," adding, by way of explanation, "a rude country
fellow." She spelt it cheerfully, without the "p." When the mistake was
made plain to her, which took some little time, she accepted his arm,
and went with him into the passage. He kissed her more than once,
murmuring, "At last, Miss Loo!" She replied seriously:

"See here! You're goin' to get into a fuss with Seth Stevens if you call
me out often. And he's the strongest of them all. You ain't afraid? O.K.
then. I guess we'll pay him out for lyin'."

On returning to the room, Bancroft became conscious of a thinly veiled
antagonism on the part of the young men. But he had hardly time to
notice it, when Miss Loo came in and said to him demurely, "Loo." He
spelt "You." Much laughter from the girls greeted the simple pleasantry.

So the game, punctuated by kisses, went on, until Miss Loo came in
for the fourth time, and stopped again before Bancroft, whereupon Seth
Stevens pushed through the crowd of young men, and said:

"Miss Loo Conklin! You know the rule is to change after three times."

At once she moved in front of the stout youth, Richards, who had come
forward to support his friend, and said "liar!" flashing at the same
time an angry glance at Stevens. "Lire," spelt Richards painfully, and
the pair withdrew.

Bancroft went over to the men's corner; the critical moment had come;
he measured his rival with a glance. Stevens was tall, fully six feet
in height, and though rather lank, had the bow legs and round shoulders
which often go with strength.

As he took up his new position, Stevens remarked to a companion, in a
contemptuous drawl:

"Schoolmasters kin talk an' teach, but kin they fight?"

Bancroft took it upon himself to answer, "Sometimes."

"Kin you?" asked Stevens sharply, turning to him.

"Well enough."

"We kin try that to-morrow. I'll he in the lot behind Richards' mill at
four o'clock."