s so vital to my
happiness that I speak for myself, the simple words halted at my lips
and checked the whole onrush of passionate avowal.

Thinking that distance might have some part in my unnerving, I joggled
my chair a few feet nearer, grasped a knee in each hand, and leaning
forward fixed a determined gaze upon her face. I had abandoned all
idea of saying those three words as they should be said for the first
time. To say them at all, I must blurt them out, but I believed that
with them said the floodgates would be opened and the true lover-like
appeal burst forth. Gladys Todd must have thought that I was angry,
for she asked me what was the matter. Some inane reply forced its way
through the press of unuttered avowals. Now, I said, I will tell her
what the matter really is, and I have always believed that I should
have done so at that moment had not the front door banged, heralding
the coming of Doctor Todd.

He entered the room, and I numbered him with Boller among the enemies
of my happiness. He took the very chair which Boller had occupied, and
made himself comfortable for the rest of my stay.

"Well, David, you will soon be leaving us forever," he said, bringing
his hands together and smiling at me over his wide-spread fingers. In
that word "forever" I saw a hidden meaning, and behind my back I
clinched my hands and registered my unalterable will. "You are going
out into the world to make your name, David," the doctor went on,
growing grave. "I do hope that you will succeed as well as Boller of
'89. Boller, David, is a man of whom McGraw is proud--a remarkable
young man. He dropped into my study for a few minutes this evening and
it was a pleasure to listen to him. Such a breadth of view! Such
nobility of purpose! He will rise high--that young man. We shall hear
much of Boller."

It had been my intention to try to sit out Doctor Todd, but I was in no
mood to listen to these praises of Boller from one whom I now regarded
as his confederate. I took my leave as quickly as I could, but it was
with the inwardly avowed purpose of returning as quickly as I could.
Then, I said, the three words would be spoken, not rudely blurted out,
but spoken as they should be for the first time. The mention of Boller
had brought back to my mind the haunting "three," to echo in every
corridor of my brain, and before I fell asleep that night, exhausted by
over-thinking, I lifted my hands into the blackness and whis