te--we didn't get along any better."

"Well, I've heard Captain Thesel was to blame for--for what was said
about you last summer when he came home."

"And what was that, Lorna?" queried Lane, curiously puzzled at her,
and darkly conscious of the ill omen that had preceded him home.

"You'll not hear it from me," declared Lorna, spiritedly. "But that
_Croix de Guerre_ doesn't agree with it, I'll tell the world."

A little frown puckered her smooth brow and there was a gleam in her
eye.

"Seems to me I heard some of the kids talking last summer," she mused,
ponderingly. "Vane Thesel was stuck on Mel Iden and Dot Dalrymple both
before the war. Dot handed him a lemon. He's still trying to rush Dot,
and the gossip is he'd go after Mel even now on the sly, if she'd
stand for it."

"Why on the sly?" inquired Lane. "Before I left home Mel Iden was
about the prettiest and most popular girl in Middleville. Her people
were poor, and ordinary, perhaps, but she was the equal of any one."

"Thesel couldn't rush Mel now and get away with it, unless on the
q-t," replied Lorna. "Haven't you heard about Mel?"

"No, you see the fact is, my few correspondents rather neglected to
send me news," said Lane.

The significance of this was lost upon his sister. She giggled. "Hot
dog! You've got some kicks coming, I'll say!"

"Is that so," returned Lane, with irritation. "A few more or less
won't matter.... Lorna, do you know Helen Wrapp?"

"That red-headed dame!" burst out Lorna, with heat. "I should smile I
do. She's one who doesn't shake a shimmy on tea, believe me."

Lane was somewhat at a loss to understand his sister's intimation, but
as it was vulgarly inimical, and seemed to hold some subtle personal
scorn or jealousy, he shrank from questioning her. This talk with his
sister was the most unreal happening he had ever experienced. He could
not adjust himself to its verity.

"Helen Wrapp is nutty about Dick Swann," went on Lorna. "She drives
down to the office after----"

"Lorna, do you know Helen and I are engaged?" interrupted Lane.

"Hot dog!" was that young lady's exposition of utter amaze. She stared
at her brother.

"We were engaged," continued Lane. "She wore my ring. When I enlisted
she wanted me to marry her before I left. But I wouldn't do that."

Lorna promptly recovered from her amaze. "Well, it's a damn lucky
thing you didn't take her up on that marriage stuff."

There was a glint of dark youthful passion