Sid tossed aside the things on his desk, and made a great fuss about writing a letter, while Phil and Tom casually looked on, well knowing to whom the epistle was addressed. Sid made several false starts, and destroyed enough paper to have enabled him to compute several problems and tore up a lot of envelopes before he finished something that met with his approval, and then he went out to post it. "He's asked Miss Harrison to go to the Junior affair with him," said Phil. "Of course," agreed Tom. "I hope she goes." Sid lived in an atmosphere of rosy hope for several days, but, when no reply came, he began to get uneasy. He eagerly accepted an invitation extended to him a few days later, to accompany Phil and Tom on a trip to Fairview, Ruth again having asked her brother to call to talk about the proposed trip to Europe. The three chums found the three girls in the reception room, and Miss Harrison showed some embarrassment when Sid entered. With a view to dispelling it Ruth, with a rapid signal to her brother, Tom and Madge, left the room, they following, leaving Miss Harrison and Sid alone there. "Lovely weather," remarked Sid desperately. "Very," answered Miss Harrison, uncertain whether to be amused or angry at the trick played on her by her chums. "Are you going to the Junior dance Friday night?" went on Sid. "I wrote and asked you--you got my letter, didn't you?" "Yes, Mr. Henderson, and I should have answered before, but I was uncertain----" "Won't you let me take you?" pleaded Sid. "I would like--won't you--can you explain a certain matter which I wish to know about?" she asked. "You know what I mean. Believe me, I'm not prudish, or anything like that, but--if you only knew how I feel about it--won't you tell me about that--that item in the paper accusing you?" she stammered. "If you weren't there, why can't you say so?" and she leaned eagerly forward, looking Sid full in the face. He scarcely seemed to breathe. There was a great struggle going on within him. He looked into the blue eyes of the girl. "I--I can't tell you--yet," he said brokenly. "Then I can't go with you to the dance," she replied in a low voice, and she turned and left the room, going back to the den she shared with Ruth and Madge, while Sid went out the front door, and across the campus; nor would he stay, though Phil and Tom called to him, but walked off, black despair in his heart. CHAPTER XXIII FINANCIAL DIFFICULTIES Tom and Phil went to the Junior dance, taking Madge and Ruth, and, though they enjoyed it thoroughly, there was a little sorrow in the hearts of the two lads that Sid was not there to share the pleasure with them. "I wonder why he didn't come?" asked Phil of Ruth, as the four stood chatting about his absence, over an ice, during an intermission. "You ought to be able to guess," replied his sister. "Why?" persisted Phil. "Because a certain person with blue eyes didn't."