her house yet, not even her mother.” Sercombe believed that she
didn’t care to have their pleasant evenings interrupted by any
thir,d parties.
He commenced going to Madison just occasionally, but during
the winter term these occasions came about three times a week.
She didn’t dare go to the theatre, lest some one should tell her
father; so most of their evenings together were spent at her house,
with an occasional drive. But Sercombe saw that she was sup
plied with tickets for herself and her mother for every desirable
performance. He had been somewhat cautious in giving her his
first present, but she had accepted with a delighted sort of un
sophisticated simplicity that her very smile of gratitude well re
paid him, and soon most of his spare allowance went for gifts that
he thought would please “ Nell.”
During the winter term he had been called down several times
for neglecting his work; but, saying to himself that they couldn’t
flunk him now, he worked harder only a day or two, and then
continued to let his mind stray to Madison when it should have
been in college. What interest had dull print for him ? The
pages would grow dimmer and dimmer until they vanished, and
before him he saw only one figure.
Finally Sercombe reached the point where he believed he could
not live without “ Nell,” be her ancestry what it might, for he
felt sure he saw her to her very soul. “If her father objects,
what then ? Would she consent to an elopement ? I must know
my fate. I’ll find out to-night.”
‘‘You had better hold yourself in check a little, old fellow,”
said Peason, when they were alone after dinner. ‘‘From the
highest place in your class you are now at the bottom. All the
fellows are talking about you. If you brace up right away and
work with all your might you may still get a cum laude. Think
of your father and mother and your sister, You are having some
fun, of course, but be reasonable about it. You can’t afford this.
You know what you are getting into, or, if not, you know what
an injustice you are doing some one else. Go slow, old boy.”
“Thank you for your interest in my affairs. When you have
seen as much of this world as I have you will probably know how
to take care of yourself. I tell you I know that girl.”
Sercombe was thoroughly angry. In the first place Pearson
had spoken questioningly of Nellie, and had arraigned him for
his negligence of duty; and his arguments were so forcible that
The Free Lance.
[November,