dering for a moment, then said,
"About Tom's affair, I would advise this: treat him brotherly--that is be
sisterly to him; if you are not madly in love with him, so madly that you
will jump into the Hudson or throw yourself upon the subway track unless
you know he loves you the same way, then let Cupid manage the whole
affair. Believe me, child, Cupid can do it far better than you or I!

"Concerning Paul and myself: I told the darling that I had a contract
with you which had to be fulfilled before I could sign up with another
one--even though that other one _seemed_ to be offering me easier work
and better wages. So I'm in for the business venture for all it is worth
for the next two, perhaps more, years. I refused to place any time limit
on a promise to sign up with Paul. Satisfied?"

"Most assuredly! That is the first practical speech I've ever heard you
make, Nolla!" was Polly's emphatic reply.

"I trust you have sense enough to make the same speech to Tom Latimer.
Then he will follow Paul's example: be filled with ambition to go back to
Pebbly Pit and straighten out that caved-in mine."

But both the girls were to learn that it is much easier to talk how
events should follow in sequence, than it is to compel fate to do as she
is expected to with such events.

That evening, despite his parents' advice to remain in bed, Tom drove up
in a taxi and stopped before the Fabians' house. He paid the driver,
rushed up the steps and pulled at the doorbell.

Polly had just finished dinner and was slowly walking out of the
dining-room when the maid opened the door. Tom fairly leaped in when he
saw Polly stopping suddenly under the hall-light.

"Oh, my little--" he began, but Polly held up a warning hand and frowned
him to silence; then she hurried him to the library across the hall from
the dining-room.

"What's the matter? Didn't you tell them we were engaged?" asked Tom,
impetuously.

"I didn't know we were what one calls engaged, Tom. You are
misunderstanding me. Of course, I did not tell them about what never
happened." Polly was annoyed.

"But," began Tom, arguing for himself, "I felt sure you meant it the way
I said: that you would wear my ring and consider I had a prior right to
your love or affections."

"You're all wrong! Because that is exactly what I wish to retain for
myself--prior right to follow my own life-line. I did say that I liked
you more than any other friend I know, and that I might consider yo