Between sobs Shirley confessed that the prospect of parting with him
and not Midget was provocative of her woe. This staggered Bryce and
pleased him immensely. And at parting she kissed him good-bye,
reiterating her opinion that he was the nicest, kindest boy she had
ever met or hoped to meet.

When Shirley and her uncle and aunt boarded the steamer for San
Francisco, Bryce stood disconsolate on the dock and waved to Shirley
until he could no longer discern her on the deck. Then he went home,
crawled up into the haymow and wept, for he had something in his
heart and it hurt. He thought of his elfin companion very frequently
for a week, and he lost his appetite, very much to Mrs. Tully's
concern. Then the steelhead trout began to run in Eel River, and the
sweetest event that can occur in any boy's existence--the sudden
awakening to the wonder and beauty of life so poignantly realized in
his first love-affair--was lost sight of by Bryce. In a month he had
forgotten the incident; in six months he had forgotten Shirley
Sumner.




CHAPTER IV


The succeeding years of Bryce Cardigan's life, until he completed his
high-school studies and went East to Princeton, were those of the
ordinary youth in a small and somewhat primitive country town. He
made frequent trips to San Francisco with his father, taking passage
on the steamer that made bi-weekly trips between Sequoia and the