nly occasionally that he had the pleasure of a
tennis game with her.

CHAPTER XVI.

STERLING SCORES.

At this time Sterling found it necessary to take a trip through the West
visiting his branch houses. It was a doleful trip for him. The spell of
Dorothy was on him and he had never realized how dependent he was on her
being near him. It was with a happy step that he bounded from the train
at the end of his trip and hastened home with the thought of seeing her
that evening.

Dorothy could hardly have explained it, but things had not seemed just
right during Sterling's absence. That she was missing him she had not
admitted to herself, but it is a fact that she found herself looking
forward to his return with eager pleasure.

Each day Sterling sought an excuse for a few words with her. If he could
not make an engagement for a tennis game or an automobile ride in the
country he would ask for a drive with her on one of her rounds of
visiting among her scholars. In fact, it was one of his greatest treats
to go with her on such visits. He was sure that no lovelier sight had
ever been presented than that of Dorothy in her happy ministrations to
her scholars. She found comfort in confiding to him her plans regarding
her class and her church, and in them he was keenly interested. Many of
his suggestions were helpful to her.

He told her one day that his convictions as to Bible doctrines were the
same as hers, that the investigations through which they had gone had
brought him to that point, but that he did not think that was a reason
for his abandoning the church in which he had spent all his life--the
church in which there had been a long line of his ancestors before him.
He said he expected to remain there and work, but that he would feel
free to state his convictions whenever he thought it proper, and he
would rejoice if the day should ever come when his church would see and
abandon its error.

When Sterling found it necessary again to be absent--this time for a
week--Dorothy found herself counting the days until his return. The
sympathetic interest that he had shown in her new experience had made
his company very acceptable. She started a game of tennis with her
brother on the third afternoon after Sterling's departure, but she soon
grew tired of the game and announced that she must do some visiting, and
she immediately set out for the homes of her scholars. Sterling cut
short his trip and arrived home on the