“I am not,” cried Quincy. It was one of those quick flashes of effrontery that mark the strain of deprivation in timid boys. He came forward and held Rhoda’s head, vise-like in his hands. Quincy was of full height. His tall, nervous figure bent over the voluptuous lined woman in striking contrast. While she was everywhere firmly composed, his form was uncertain and angular and loose. “Behave yourself, Quincy!” Rhoda struggled. The boy laughed feverishly. His hands held her head. But her body was writhing away. He meant to kiss her cheek. But Rhoda flashed back her head and his mouth skimmed her lips. His heart melted with the flame of that instant. And then, she broke away altogether. Quincy stood where the event had happened, arms still out, hands still before him, feeling the floor gratefully beneath his feet. “Why, you impudent boy!” Rhoda sneered at him; “how dared you?” “You talk as if a brother hasn’t a right to kiss his sister,” said Adelaide. Rhoda turned upon her in a white fury: “You--shut up!” And Quincy felt Adelaide melt into a corner. He was still looking at Rhoda. “I am sorry if I hurt you,” he said. “You did hurt me, you little fool,” the woman’s instinct for giving pain was unerring; “why else do you think I’m angry? You hurt me--here.” She placed a hand above her waist. “If that’s the sort of nonsense you learn at college, my dear Quincy--” Then she had not even been angry at the kiss? This submerged the boy’s spirits altogether. And now, with a quick change of mood and a sweet word, she drew Adelaide out of her repentant corner. The two sisters seated themselves for a quiet chat. The servant brought tea on a mahogany platter, based with glass. With a few healing smiles, there was Adelaide, once more glad to bask in Rhoda’s sunshine. Quincy drew up a chair in order to have a place in the sun. But he fared ill. Rhoda’s resentment took the direction of ignoring him. And Adelaide was feeble at bringing him within the conversation. Rhoda feinted her attempts with phrases that recalled the hand-twist of a clever fencer. The boy was being ruthlessly punished. He had had hopes of Rhoda, now he was a college man. And here he was in disgrace with her! What a clumsy, inopportune brute he had been!