ket
and clattered away in his delivery wagon. She had a "date" with Arthur.
The first real "date" she'd ever had! Then, resolutely she squashed her
thrills; she must remember that this meeting was for a Christian cause.
The motive was what made it all right for her to disobey--that is, to
SEEM to disobey--her parents' commands. They didn't "understand." She
couldn't help feeling a little perturbed over her apparent disobedience
and had to argue, hard with her conscience.

Then, another difficulty presented itself to her mind. Mother had set
her foot down on evening visits to the Library--mother seemed to think
girls went there evenings chiefly to meet boys! Mother would never
let her go--especially in such weather and with a sore throat. Missy
pondered long and earnestly.

The result was that, after supper, at which mother had appeared, pale
and heavy-eyed, Missy said tentatively:

"Can I run up to Kitty's a little while to See what the lessons are for
to-morrow?"

"I don't think you'd better, dear," mother replied listlessly. "It
wouldn't be wise, with that throat."

"But my throat's better. And I've GOT to keep up my lessons, mother! And
just a half a block can't hurt me if I bundle up." Missy had formulated
her plan well; Kitty Allen had been chosen as an alibi because of her
proximity.

"Very well, then," agreed mother.

As Missy sped toward the library, conflicting emotions swirled within
her and joined forces with the sharp breathlessness brought on by her
haste. She had never before been out alone at night, and the blackness
of tree-shadows lying across the intense whiteness of the snow struck
her in two places at once--imaginatively in the brain and fearsomely
in the stomach. Nor is a guilty conscience a reassuring companion under
such circumstances. Missy kept telling herself that, if she HAD lied a
little bit, it was really her parents' fault; if they had only let her
go to church, she wouldn't have been driven to sneaking out this way.
But her trip, however fundamentally virtuous--and with whatever subtly
interwoven elements of pleasure at its end--was certainly not an
agreeable one. At the moment Missy resolved never, never to sneak off
alone at night again.

In the brightly lighted library her fears faded away; she warmed to
anticipation again. And she found some very enjoyable stories in the new
magazines--she seemed, strangely, to have forgotten about any "history
references." But, as the hands