As a matter of fact, after a few commonplaces with Marcus and Roger, the girls left them, and slowly following the others, had been silent companions for a few moments. Then Olive, shaking off the unwelcome feelings which had taken possession of her, said gaily: "A penny for your thoughts, Monica!" "You can have them without the penny," was her friend’s rather sad reply, as she slipped her arm into Olive’s. "I’m half inclined to do what he said, Ollie." Olive raised a startled face to Monica’s, and read quite a new expression upon it, in which there was a certain amount of determination. "What do you mean?" she queried; but in her own heart she knew full well what Monica meant. "Why, to say _I_ am willing," said Monica, with some confusion, for she felt diffident about expressing what she meant even to her greatest friend. "Oh, Monica, don’t! We’ll never have any more good times together," said Olive, and it must have been her bad angel who prompted her words; "if you do you’ll have to leave me behind, for _I’m_ not going to give in." "I wish I could live like he said," and Monica’s face looked wistful. "Sometimes I----" "Well?" "Sometimes I long to be able to write and tell dad that it is all settled. He _would_ be so glad." "Well, I don’t see much in it," said Olive obstinately. Her better feelings were aroused by Monica’s words, but she deliberately crushed them down. "Oh, yes, there is; there’s _everything_ in it! You’ve only to look at that young clergyman, and your mother, and even Elsa, to see what a difference there is. Oh, Olive, if I had your mother to help me I _would_, really, say to God what we sang just now, Take myself, and I will be Ever, only, all for Thee"-- and Monica’s young face glowed with feeling. "No, you wouldn’t," was Olive’s moody reply, "any more than I do. Of course, I mean to be a Christian some day, but not while I’m only a girl; I want some pleasure first." "Oh, Olive, Olive, you little know the dark cloud that even now is beginning to gather over your head!" With a sigh, Monica turned away, and, with one consent, they hurried after the others, and no more was said. But the elder girl’s heart had been roused and awakened, and never again would she drift into her former state of indifference. The two young fellows, waiting about in the churchyard for Mr. Drury, at length received a message to the effect that he would be detained still longer, and they had better not wait for him. So they, too, strolled down to the Shore Road, where they knew they would eventually come across their friends. "I’m almost sorry I’m not in your shoes, old man," said Marcus, as he adapted his long, swinging strides to his friend’s shorter steps. "It’s a very good thing that you are a little undecided about it," was Roger’s somewhat enigmatical reply. "But tell me what you mean?"