he drama of sex, was going to break her heart!

She had quickened her steps while she made her resolve; and, a minute
later, she broke into a run when she saw that Corinna's car stood at the
door and that Corinna waited for her in the hall. Had the girl only
realized it, Corinna's heart also was troubled; and the visit was one
result of the discouraging talk she had had recently with Stephen.

"I had to go down town, so I stopped on the way back to speak to you."
Though she said no word of her anxiety, Patty could hear it in every
note of her expressive voice and feel it in the protective pressure of
her arm. "I want you to go with me to the Harrisons' dance Wednesday
night, and I want you to look your very prettiest."

"But I'm not even asked."

"Oh, you are. Mrs. Harrison has just told me she was sending your
invitation with a number that had not gone out." How like Corinna it was
to put it that way! "They are giving it for that English girl who is
staying with them. She is pretty, but you must look ever so much
prettier. I want you to wear that green and silver dress that makes you
look like a mermaid." The kind voice, so full of sympathy, so forgetful
of self, flooded Patty's heart like sunshine after darkness.

"I will go, if you wish me to," she answered, raising Corinna's hand to
her cheek. And the thought flashed through her mind, "Stephen will be
there. Even if everything is over, I'd like him to see me."

"I'll come for you a little before ten," said Corinna; and then, as the
door of the library opened and Vetch came out, she added hurriedly: "I
must go now. Remember to look your prettiest."

"No, don't go," begged Patty. "Father will be so disappointed." She had
remembered the message, and she felt that Corinna, whose wisdom was
infallible, might help her to understand it. Though it had sounded so
casual on the surface, her natural sagacity detected both a warning and
a menace; and the very touch of Corinna's hand, in her long white glove,
was reassuring and helpful.

Whatever may have threatened Vetch, he seemed oblivious of it as he came
forward with his hearty greeting. "It's queer," he said, "but something
told me you were here. I looked out to make sure." His simple pleasure
touched Corinna like the artless joy of a child. It was impossible to
resist his magnetism, she thought, as she looked up into his sanguine
face, for what was it, after all, except an unaffected enjoyment of
little things, an