ut River, the late afternoon was already casting long shadows across
the grassy level of the old Kickapoo Corral. And again the camp fires
were glowing where a Sorority "spread" was merrily in the making.

They must go down soon and join in the hilarity. But a golden half hour
yet hung in the west--and the going down meant the going back to all
that had been.

"Look at the foam on the whirlpool, Elinor. See how deliberately it
swings upstream. Isn't that a most deceiving bit of treachery?" Vic said
as he watched the river.

Elinor looked thoughtfully at the slow-moving water.

"I cannot endure deceit," she said at last. "I like honesty in
everything. I said I would tell you sometime about a sacrifice I was
forced to make. I'll tell you now if you will not speak of what I say."

How delicious to have her confidence in anything. Vic smiled assent.

"My father had a fortune from my mother. When he died he left me to
the care of my two uncles, and gave all his money to endow chairs in
universities. He thought a woman could marry money, and that he was
doing mankind a service in this endowment. Maybe he was, but I've always
rebelled against being dependent. I've always wanted my own. Uncle
Joshua thinks I am frivolous, and he has told Uncle Lloyd that it's just
my love of spending and extravagant notions that makes me rebel against
conditions. It is n't. It's the sense of being robbed, as it were. It
was n't right and honest toward me, even in a great cause, to leave
me dependent. Uncle Lloyd would never have done it. I hope he does n't
think I'm as bad as Uncle Joshua does. You won't mind my telling you
this, nor think me ungrateful to my relatives for their care of me.
Nobody quite understands me but you."

The time had come for them to join the jolly picnic crowd in the
Corral. She would go back to Vincent Burgess in a little while, and this
glorious day would be only a memory. And yet, down in the pretty glen,
Victor had held her hands and kissed her red lips. And she had been
glad down there. The void in his life seemed blacker than the blackness
behind the cavern.

"Elinor," he asked, suddenly, "are you bound by any promise--has
Professor Burgess--?" He hesitated.

"No," she answered, turning her face away.

"Pardon my rudeness. You know I am not well-bred," he said, gently.

"Victor Burleigh, you ill-bred, of all the gentle, manly fellows in
Sunrise! You know you are not."

A great hope leaped to life no