to--to see him again. Never."

"My dear girl, you are crazy," exclaimed Miss Tousy. "You don't know
what you are doing--unless you have grown fond of Mr. Williams; but I
can't believe that is true. No girl would think twice of him when so
splendid a fellow as Dic--Mr. Bright--was--"

"No, indeed," interrupted Rita, "that can never be true. I would never
care for any man as I cared for--for him. But I care for him no longer.
It is all over between--between--it is all over."

From the hard expression of the girl's face one might easily have
supposed she was speaking the truth; there was no trace of emotion.

"But, Rita! This will never do!" insisted Miss Tousy. "You don't know
yourself. You are taking a step that will wreck your happiness. You
should also consider him."

"You don't know what he has done," answered Rita, still looking down at
her folded hands.

"I don't _care_ what he has done. You did not make yourself love him,
and you cannot throw off your love. You may for a time convince yourself
that you are indifferent, but you are simply lying to yourself, my dear
girl, and you had better lie to any one else--the consequences will be
less serious. Never deceive yourself, Rita. That is a deception you
can't maintain. You may perhaps deceive all the rest of the world so
long as you live--many a person has done it--but yourself--hopeless,
Rita, perfectly hopeless."

"I'm not deceiving myself," answered the wilful girl. "You don't know
what he has done."

"I don't _care_," retorted Miss Tousy warmly. "If he were my lover, I--I
tell you, Rita Bays, I'd forgive him. I'd keep him. He is one out of a
thousand--so big and handsome; so honest, strong, and true."

"But he's not true; that's the trouble," answered Rita, angrily,
although there had been a soft, tell-tale radiance in her eyes when Miss
Tousy praised him.

"Ah, he has been inveigled into smiling upon another girl," asked Miss
Tousy, laughing and taking Rita's hand. "That is the penalty you must
pay for having so splendid a lover. Of course other girls will want him.
I should like to have him myself--and, Rita, there are lots of girls
bold enough or weak enough to seek him outright. You mustn't see those
little things. Frequently the best use a woman can make of her eyes is
to shut them."

In place of shutting her eyes, Rita began to weep, and Miss Tousy
continued:--

"This man loves you and no other, my sweet one. That's the great thing,
after al