hough, for a
girl simply can't divide herself up into sections for all the men that
want her. She would let Tom down as easily as possible. It might comfort
him to take her to the movies. Rosie could easily manage that by
suggesting a time when George Riley was busy.

The car was pretty well filled on the down trip, so George had little
time for chatting. Rosie was patient as she knew that, on the return
trip, the car would be empty or nearly so.

"All out!" George cried at the end of the route, and everybody but Rosie
meekly obeyed.

George was about to pull the bell, when Rosie called: "Wait, Jarge!
There comes a girl!"

The girl was half running, half staggering, and George stepped off the
car to help her on. As the light of the car fell on the girl's face,
Rosie jumped to her feet, crying out in amazement: "Ellen!"

Yes, it was Ellen, but not an Ellen they had ever seen before--an Ellen
with hat awry and trembling hands and a face red and swollen with
weeping.

"George!" she sobbed hysterically, "is that you! I'm so glad! You'll
take me home, won't you? I haven't got a cent of carfare!"

George helped her into the seat beside Rosie and started the car. Then
he leaned in over Rosie and demanded:

"What's the matter, Ellen? What's happened?"

CHAPTER XXXIV

THE KIND-HEARTED GENTLEMAN

For several moments Ellen sobbed and shook without trying to speak.
Then, instead of answering George's question, she turned solemnly to
Rosie. "Oh, kid," she begged, "promise me you'll never have anything to
do with a man like Philip Hawes!" There was an unexpected tenderness in
her tone but this, far from touching Rosie, stirred up all the
antagonism in her nature. Why, forsooth, should Ellen be giving her such
advice? Was she the member of the family who was given to chasing men
like Philip Hawes? Rosie sat up stiffly and turned her face straight
ahead.

Upon George the effect of Ellen's words was different. He leaned farther
in, his neck surging with blood, his little eyes growing round and
fierce. "What do you mean, Ellen? Has that fellow been insulting you?"

Ellen was sobbing again and swaying herself back and forth. "Oh, George,
I'm so humiliated I feel like I could never hold up my head again!"

George's strong fist was clenching and unclenching. "What did that
fellow do to you?"

"It was my own fault!" Ellen wailed. "He was perfectly right: I knew
what he was after all along. Any girl would know. But