ame down the street with his baseball glove dangling aimlessly in
one hand, he stumbled over the Mosher youngster who was intent upon some
childish pursuit in the dust of the gutter.

"Get out of the way," he stormed angrily. To vent his disappointment
upon even so small an offender was a relief. The infant smiled
maliciously.

"Johnny an' Louise, Johnny an' Louise," he chanted, reviving the cry of
the autumn before.

"Well, what about it," demanded John belligerently.

"Louise had a soda with Sid. Saw her, saw her!"

"When?" Had Louise, too, forsaken him in this hour of grief?

"Yesterday. Sidney an' Louise, Sidney an' Louise," came the taunting
revision.

John's face set. All the wrongs which Sid had perpetrated since the
Halloween party--the earlier sodas, the persistence which had culminated
in the theater affair, the baseball election, and his arrogance since
that time--clamored for revenge. He'd get even, he would. He'd go back
and punch Sid's face in, and muss that new suit, and throw his baseball
gloves up on a house roof. Then Mr. Sid would quit monkeying with his
girl.

The appearance of that gentleman around the corner put a stop to his
meditations. John waited until he sauntered unsuspectingly up to him.

"Say, Sid!"

"Yes?" A note in the voice put the captain of the "Tigers" on his guard.

"What's this I hear about Louise?"

"N-nothing."

"Been drinking sodas with her again, have you?"

"Who told you?" Sid made a futile effort to edge past the inquisitor.

"Never mind who. Promise not to do it any more or I'll--" He clenched
one fist and drew it back threateningly.

"Guess I won't," retorted Sid with sudden spirit. "Guess I've got as
much right to drink sodas with her as anybody. Who's going to stop me?"

"I am!"

"You," scornfully.

At this moment, the very cause of the dissension came skipping along
with the inevitable package from the grocery under one arm. Feminine
intuition told her that trouble was lurking in the air, and she would
have passed but John held up a detaining hand.

"Louise, you've been drinking sodas with Sid again."

"Haven't either," in the same breath came the admission, "who told you?"

John gave her a searching glance. "Tell this _guy_," he said with
infinite scorn, "that you won't have anything more to do with him. Tell
him you're my girl, Louise," he added incautiously.

The lady's head went back to a warning angle.

"Go on!" John ordered.

"Guess