nch
and speak to _him_! No! You waited till he was gone! You were only brave
enough to do your talking in front of a lot of girls! Ha-a-a-a!" Then
her anger mounting, "_You_ talk about sneaking! That's because _you've_
sneaked and followed us!"

"Y're too young t' have any whipper-snapper trailin' 'round with
y'--noons, 'r any other time," declared Barber.

"My mother married when she was seventeen!" retorted Cis.

"It'll be time enough for y' t' be thinkin' o' beaus when y're twenty,"
went on Big Tom, quietly.

She stood up. "You hate to see anybody happy, don't you?" she asked
scornfully. "You're afraid maybe Mr. Perkins will like me, and want me
to marry him, and give me a good home!"

"You can put that Perkins out o' y'r head," commanded the longshoreman.
"When y're old enough, o' course, y're goin' t' marry; but I plan t'
have y' marry a _man_."

"Mr. Perkins is a man," she answered, not cowed or frightened in the
least.

"Not _my_ notion o' a man," said Big Tom.

"I like him all the better for that!" she returned--an answer which
stung and angered him anew, for he caught her roughly once more and
hurled her back into her chair.

She stayed there for a moment, panting. Then, "I'm going to marry Mr.
Perkins," she told him. "To-morrow--_if I live_!"

"T'morrow!" He shouted the word. "What're y' _talkin'_ about? I'll
_kill_ y' first! I'll----"

"Oh, don't!" As Barber reached to seize Cis again, Johnnie dragged at
his sleeve.

But the longshoreman did not notice him. It was Cis who cried out to
Johnnie, still defying Big Tom. "Oh, let him do what he wants!" she
said. "Because he won't have a chance even to speak to me after to-day!
Let him! Let him!"

Barber shook her, and stepped back. "After t'-day," he told her, "y'll
work right here at home!"

"Home! _Home!_" She laughed wildly. "Do you call _this_ a home?"

"I'll see that y' behave y'rself!" he vowed.

"You'd better see that you behave _yourself_!" she retorted. "Because
Johnnie doesn't belong to you--you haven't any rights over him! And he's
gone once, and he'll go again--after I go! And I'm going the minute I
can stand on my feet! I've stayed here long enough! Then you can try it
alone for a change!"

"Oh, _can_ I?"

"I'll never do another thing for you!" she went on; "--in this flat or
out! No, not in all the rest of my life! Oh, I'm not like Johnnie! I
can't pretend it's beautiful when it's awful! and imagine good clothes,
and decent