that is what he did. He is a
young lawyer in a small town near here, and has great expectations, he
says.

"His time will be up to-morrow, Jessie, and then he is going back to his
home, and--and I shall never see him again. He is like a prince in
disguise--such as we read about. I always thought him too grand and
polite to be only a street-car conductor."

Jessie Staples felt greatly relieved in her heart that he was going away
so soon, but she was too wise to say so to Dorothy, knowing that if one
attempts to break up an infatuation on the part of a girl of that age,
ten to one it makes matters only worse.

"Life will never be the same to me after Harry Langdon goes, for,
Jessie, I--I have learned to care for him. I couldn't help myself though
I tried hard not to, and to be gay and jolly before all the girls. But,
oh, Jessie, pity me! My heart is breaking! I wish I could die!"

They did not notice, as they moved on, that the door near where they had
stood talking was partly ajar, nor did they see the girl who had paused
in the entry outside almost at the very beginning of their
conversation. It was Nadine Holt, and she had heard every word, from
beginning to end, that Dorothy had uttered; and even after they had
passed on she stood there, cold and motionless as a statue cut in
marble.

"Great God in heaven! this explains Harry Langdon's sudden coolness,"
she muttered, with a great, choking sob; "but if Dorothy Glenn attempts
to take my lover from me--let her beware! this earth will not be broad
enough to hold the two of us. It will be war to the very death between
us, and we shall see which one of us shall win him!"

By a violent effort Nadine controlled her wild grief and passed into the
work-room. It was only her indomitable pride that kept her from taking
her hat and sacque and going straight home and to her bed, there to weep
her very heart out--aye, weep her very life out, if she could. If her
lover was fickle, Nadine told herself that she did not care to live and
face the dull, cold world, for what is life and the world to a young
girl if the lover on whom she has set her heart and her hopes proves
false to her?

CHAPTER II.

From the moment that Nadine Holt heard the story of the perfidy of her
lover she was a changed being.

She went wearily enough to the lodging-house she called home, and paced
the floor up and down the live-long night.

"He was pleased enough with me before Dorothy Glenn