ou just try me."

"Well, Rita. Here is your first lesson.

"Never say 'gee.' It is not good English."

And I never heard Rita use the expression again.

I had expected to see her smile with happiness, but she was too
tremendously in earnest about it. Determination was written all over
her sweet little face.

"George,--I'll learn anything you tell me. I'll work hard and I'll
learn terrible fast, for I know I ain't no good now at talking slick."

"Here is another for you, Rita. Never say 'ain't no good.' Say, 'I am
not any good.' 'Ain't' is not a word; it does not appear in any
standard dictionary of English.

"Well, little girl,--if your grand-dad is agreeable and will permit you
to come over now and again of an evening, we can make a start as soon
as I get the book I require from Vancouver.

"I would come over to your place, but it is quite a distance from the
store and I do not like to be too long away, especially in the
evenings; for I have seen Chinese in their fishing boats around, and
strange launches keep coming into the Bay to anchor overnights. It
does not do, you know, to neglect another man's property and goods when
the other man pays me for looking after them."

"Oh! grand-dad won't mind me coming. He lets me do pretty near
anything. Besides, somebody's got to come over to the store now we're
getting our groceries from you instead of ordering them from Vancouver."

I was not so sanguine as Rita was, especially after what Joe had
probably said to Andrew Clark regarding me.

"Well!" I concluded, "that will be my excuse when I come over with the
medicine for your grand-dad's chronic complaint,--dumbness. So, don't
say a word about it until I get over."

The Rev. William Auld ran in early that afternoon. He was all
excitement.

"George,--I saw Margaret and I have fixed her. Poor woman,--she is as
nervous as a kitten and as worried as a mother cat, fearing we may hurt
Andrew. The old rascal;--he's not so easily hurt, eh, George?

"You saw Rita?"

"Yes! And she is like Mrs. Clark, but the prize looks too alluring for
her to refrain from entering the gamble."

"George! Why should we leave this till to-morrow?"

"I don't know why."

"We could start in to-night, just as easily as to-morrow, and it will
be over a day sooner. What do you say?"

"I am ready when you are, Mr. Auld."

"Right! Now, I am going to leave the conversation to you. You must
work it round to fit in. I