nce. No, indeed! Life would be
worth but very little to her now if he were taken out of it; and, though
she knew she would have many a vigorous battle to fight with her proud
sister if she defied her authority, she had no thought of yielding one
inch of ground, and was prepared to acknowledge Wallace as her betrothed
lover when the proper time to do so should come.

CHAPTER VI.

A CONFESSION AND ITS REPLY.

Wallace, in his lonely home, was of course very sad and almost stunned
by the blow that had fallen upon him so suddenly.

For many years his mother had been the one object upon which he had
lavished the deep, strong affection of his manly nature. He had lost his
father when but a youth, but Mrs. Richardson had struggled bravely to
keep him at school, and give him as good an education as possible, for
he was a lad possessing more than ordinary capabilities and attainments.
By the time, however, that he graduated from the high school in the city
of Boston, Massachusetts, where they were living at that time, their
slender means gave out, and Wallace found that he must relinquish, at
least, for the present, his aspiration to perfect himself as an
architect, and do something for his own and his mother's support.

He was but seventeen years of age at this time, but he was a strong,
manly fellow, and he resolved to take up the carpenter's trade, much
about which he already knew, for during his vacations he had often
worked, from choice, under the direction of his father.

As he had told Violet, he felt that a practical and thorough knowledge
of the construction of buildings would be of inestimable benefit in the
future, for he had not by any means given up his intention of ultimately
becoming an architect.

He applied to the builder and contractor who had grown up under and
succeeded to the business of his father, and the man readily agreed to
engage him, provided he would be willing to go to Cincinnati, where he
had managed to obtain a very large contract, and, for a lad of Wallace's
age, he offered him unusual inducements.

At first Wallace demurred, for he could not bear the thought of leaving
his mother, and at that time they could not both afford to make the
change.

But he finally concluded to make the trial, and at the end of six months
he had made himself so valuable to his employer that the man had
increased his wages, and promised him still further promotion if he
continued to progress as he had