he gets on the boat," she thought, with
a fluttering heart.

Poor little Dorothy! there was no one to warn her against him. How was
she to realize that the thought of marriage had never entered his head,
and that he was of the kind who smile on and flatter women and then ride
away, little caring how many broken hearts are left behind?

Dorothy's pretty, innocent face had captivated his fancy, but he would
never have dreamed of making her his wife.

As they neared the boat, so great was the crowd clambering on board that
Dorothy would have been separated from her companion had she not clung
to his arm.

"You need never go back to the book-bindery, Dorothy," he managed to
whisper again.

At that moment they stepped aboard the steamer and started toward the
upper deck.

It had been a happy day for Dorothy, but a most miserable one for poor
Jack. Contrary to his expectations, he finished the task allotted to him
much sooner than he had anticipated, and by two o'clock he was ready to
quit the book-bindery for the day.

Hurrying home, he quickly changed his clothing, smiling the while as he
thought of putting the wish into execution that had been in his heart
all day, of joining the crowd up at West Point; and how delighted
Dorothy would be to see him--what a surprise it would be to her!

His mother and his cousin watched him out of sight from their humble
cottage door, and then turned back to their duties with a sigh. They had
hoped that he would spend the day with them.

With a joyful heart Jack boarded the boat for West Point, but when he
reached there and found that Dorothy was not among the group, his
disappointment knew no bounds.

"My tender-hearted little darling!" he thought. "She would not join them
for a day's pleasure because she thought I could not go, and she is
having a lonely time of it at home."

Back to the city Jack posted in all haste, and although the hour was
late when he reached there--the clocks in the belfries sounding the hour
of nine--still he could not refrain from stopping a moment at the
cottage, just to let Dorothy know how cruelly fate had tricked him.

To his great consternation, he learned there, from the lady who kept the
boarding-house, that Dorothy--his Dorothy--had left the house at two
o'clock that afternoon with handsome Mr. Langdon, and that they had
started for Staten Island for a day's outing.

He stood quite still, stupefied with amazement too great for words, and