c was over to see me last night. I think he's so handsome, don't
you?"

Rita was so startled that she did not think anything at the moment, and
Sukey presently asked:--

"Don't you think he has a fine head? and his eyes are glorious. The gray
is so dark, and they look right at you."

Rita, compelled to answer, said, "I think he is--is all right--strong."

"Indeed, he is strong," responded Sukey. "When he takes hold of you, you
just feel like he could crush you. Oh, it's delicious--it's
thrilling--when you feel that a man could just tear you to pieces if he
wanted to."

"Why?" asked Rita; "I don't understand."

"Oh, just because," replied Sukey, shrugging her shoulders and laughing
softly, her red lips parted, her little teeth glistening like wet ivory,
and the dimples twinkling mischievously.

"Just because" explained nothing to Rita, but something in Sukey's
laughter and manner aroused undefined and disagreeable suspicions, so
she said:--

"Well, Sukey, I must be going home."

"Why, you just came," returned Sukey, still laughing softly. She had
shot her arrow intentionally and had seen it strike the target's centre.
Sukey was younger than Rita, but she knew many times a thing or two;
while poor Rita's knowledge of those mystic numbers was represented by
the figure O.

Why should Dic "take hold" of any one, thought Rita, while riding home,
and above all, why should he take hold of Sukey? Sukey was pretty, and
Sukey's prettiness and Dic's "taking hold" seemed to be related in some
mysterious manner. She who saw others through the clear lens of her own
conscience did not doubt Dic and Sukey, but notwithstanding her
trustfulness, a dim suspicion passed through her mind that something
might be wrong if Dic had really "taken hold" of Sukey. Where the evil
was, she could not determine; and to connect the straightforward, manly
fellow with anything dishonorable or wicked was impossible to her. So
she dismissed the subject, and it left no trace upon her mind save a
slight irritation against Sukey.

Rita felt sure that Dic would come to see Tom that evening, and the red
ribbon was in evidence soon after supper. Dic did come, and there was at
least one happy girl on Blue.

THE SYCAMORE DIVAN

CHAPTER III

THE SYCAMORE DIVAN

A virgin love in the heart of a young girl is like an effervescent
chemical: it may withstand a great shock, but a single drop of an
apparently harmless liquid may cause it to eva