nswered:

"John Louder, you are the prince of liars, and beware how you repeat
your falsehoods, or I shall crack your skull."

Louder, who was a coward, as well as superstitious, had a wholesome
dread of the stout youth.

He sprung back a few paces and stammered:

"No, no, I don't mean any harm. I--I am not saying anything against
you."

"John Louder, you are a notorious liar, and I warn you to be careful in
the future how your vile tongue breathes calumny against innocent
people. Begone!"

Louder slowly rose and slunk away, and Charles Stevens returned home.
The evening air fanned his heated brow, and he sought to cool his angry
temper before he reached home. The silent stars watched the sullen youth
who, pausing at the gate, gazed in his helpless misery on the
broad-faced moon and murmured:

"How will all this end?"

It was his usual bedtime when Charles Stevens entered the house, and his
face was calm as a summer sky over which a storm had never swept. His
mother was still plying her wheel, and the heap of wool rolls had grown
less and continued to diminish. She asked her son no questions. He sat
down near the table, took up a book of psalms and proceeded to read.

There was one in the next apartment who heard him enter. It was Cora,
and, rising, she crouched near the door to listen. Perhaps they would
say something more of Adelpha Leisler; but he did not mention her name
again, and she almost hoped he cared nothing for her now, although he
had confessed that in his boyhood he had looked upon her as his future
wife. Almost every man selects his wife in his early boyhood; but the
child lover seldom becomes the husband. The love of a play-mate, tender
as it may be, is not the love of maturity. Cora strove to console
herself with these thoughts; but there was another danger that would
obtrude itself in her way. That was the knowledge that he had not seen
Adelpha for years, and she had developed from a child to a beautiful
woman. Long she sat near the door, feeling decidedly guilty at playing
the part of an eavesdropper; but when Charles rose, closed his book and
went to his room, and the mother put away her work, Cora rose and went
to her bed. Despite her sorrow and mental worry, she had sweet dreams.
Somebody, who was Charles, appeared to her in light, and she rose with
the sun in her eyes, which at first produced the effect of a
continuation of her dream. Her first thought on coming out of the dream
was of