he could say could alter the boy's quiet determination to leave
school and be independent, a resolution in which he was seconded by
Helen, a little miss of some nine years. The two children had talked
it over for months, as it appeared, and concluded that it was best
to sacrifice in the cause of honor the privilege of going to school
together, and of spending the long holidays roaming about the
country.

So the lad had served with childish dignity, first as an errand boy,
and then as a store clerk, always contributing his mite of "board"
to Mr. Davis' household expenses; meanwhile, possibly because he was
really "a gentleman's son," and had inherited a taste for study, he
had made by himself about as much progress as if he had been at
school. Some years later, to the delight of Helen and Mr. Davis, he
had carried off a prize scholarship above the heads of the graduates
of the Hilltown High School, and still refusing all help, had gone
away to college, to support himself there while studying by such
work as he could find, knowing well that a true gentleman's son is
ashamed of nothing honest.

He spent his vacations at home, where he and Helen studied
together,--or such rather had been his hope; it was realized only
for the first year.

Helen had an aunt upon her mother's side, a woman of wealth and
social position, who owned a large country home near Oakdale, and
who was by no means inclined to view with the complacency of Mr.
Davis the idyllic friendship of the two young people. Mrs. Roberts,
or "Aunt Polly" as she was known to the family, had plans of her own
concerning the future of the beauty which she saw unfolding itself