nd
sister, came hurriedly down the steps.

In a moment they were the center of an eager and tumultuous group.

"Mabel!" exclaimed Joe,--at least that was all that they heard him say
just then. What he said to her later on is none of our business.

The girls hugged and kissed each other, much to the aggravation of the
masculine contingent, while Reggie Varley extended his two hands, which
were grasped cordially by Joe and Jim.

The romance which had culminated in the engagement of Mabel Varley and Joe
dated back two years earlier. Joe had been in a southern training camp, in
spring practice with his team, when one day he had been lucky enough to
stop a runaway horse which Mabel had been driving, and thus saved her from
imminent danger and possible death. The acquaintance, so established,
rapidly deepened into friendship and then into something stronger.

Mabel was a charming girl with lustrous brown eyes, wonderful complexion
and dimples that came and went in a distracting fashion, and it was no
wonder that Joe before long was a helpless but willing captive. She, on
her part, developed a sudden fondness for the great national game to which
she had hitherto been indifferent.

They had met many times during the season, and with every meeting her
witchery over Joe had become more potent. He had stolen a glove from her
during one of his visits to Goldsboro, her home town in the South, and
during the exciting games of the last World's Series he had worn it close
to his heart when he had pitched his team to victory.

And when he told her this on the night following the famous game that had
set the whole country wild with excitement, and told her too, that victory
meant nothing, unless she shared it with him, she had capitulated and
promised to become his wife.

Reggie, her brother, had formed Joe's acquaintance earlier than Mabel and
in a less pleasant way. He was a rather foppish young man who cultivated a
mustache that the girls called "darling," and affected what he fondly
believed to be an English accent.

In a railway station he had left his valise near where Joe was sitting,
and, on his return, found that the valise had been opened and some
valuable jewelry stolen from it. He had rashly accused Joe of the theft,
and had narrowly escaped a thrashing from that indignant young man, in
consequence.

The matter had been patched up at the time, and afterward, when Joe
learned that he was Mabel's brother, had been fo