One morning when he entered the schoolroom, he found the blackboard decorated with a caricature of himself, labeled with the insulting appellation which Susannah Kuhns had once bestowed upon him, "Der Fratzhans." There were only two pupils who were skillful enough to have drawn so lifelike a representation of their teacher; they were two of the four large girls in the upper class, of whose admiration Alvin had been certain. It was a cruel blow for poor Alvin. Again the collector who represented the tailor visited him. This time he met Alvin on Main Street, in front of the post-office, and at the top of his loud and unfeeling voice, demanded instant payment. "I will get it," promised Alvin. "Till Monday I will have it for sure." It must be said in justice to Alvin that he did not think at once of making application to Katy Gaumer for succor in his financial situation. To his Bessie he offered no such slight as that. But succor Alvin must have. He knew so little about the law that he feared he might be cast into prison. When he had got rid of the insulting creature and his demands, he dressed himself in the suit under discussion and at once sought Bessie at her father's house in the county seat. There, alas! Alvin did not behave in a manner befitting one whose education and manners were so fine. He asked Bessie plainly and frankly for a loan, having been led by Miss Katy Gaumer to expect an immediate and favorable response from any female whom he honored with such a request. To his astonishment Bessie stared at him rudely. "Why do you want money?" "To pay a few things." "Don't you have any money?" "It isn't time yet for my salary." In reality Alvin had been paid as at first, in advance. "Don't you have any money in the bank?" "Why, no!" It had never occurred to Alvin to do anything with money but spend it. "Have you paid for the furniture?" "The furniture?" repeated Alvin weakly. "Yes, the furniture." Bessie was growing redder and redder, her voice sharper. "The furniture that you and I picked out this long while!" "Why, no," confessed Alvin, "I thought that you--that you would--would--" "You thought _I_ would pay for it!" Bessie's voice rose so high that her whole family might have heard if they had not considerately left the house to her and her beau. "Well, you were mistaken!"--Bessie was a slangy person, she said that Alvin was "stung." "And here"--Bessie ran upstairs and returned with a letter--"here is this. I thought, of course, this was a mistake. I paid no attention to it. Open it!" Alvin grew pale. He recognized, before the envelope was in his hand, the business card on the corner. The bill for Bessie's ring had come to him many times. Now upon the bill Bessie laid the ring itself. "There!" said she. Alvin remembered suddenly how David Hartman had appeared on the mountain long ago and had hurled himself upon him. He had now much the same sensations. "Do you mean that it is over?" he faltered in a dazed tone.