“No, truly, David, I am in earnest,” smiled Polly. “My clubs don’t take up nearly as much of my time as you think. If you would join some of them--the College, for instance--you would change your mind. You stand outside and criticize; you don’t get the right viewpoint. Try it, David! You won’t be sorry. I’ll propose your name at the next meeting.” “No, you will not!” was the prompt reply. “Nice time to join, while I am off in an Adirondack camp.” “Oh, well, you are not going to stay all summer, are you?” “I may.” Polly looked straight into the blue eyes opposite. “Do you mean it?” He bowed gravely. “It is more than possible.” He pulled out his watch. “Time we were on the march,” he said, springing to his feet. The walk home was like many another walk. Polly tried to make talk, with poor results. There were long silences, while she, watching her companion’s face, longed with all her heart to read what was being written behind those unreadable eyes. She felt a relief when the hospital was sighted. “You’ll be up in the morning, shan’t you?” she asked. “I think there will not be time,” David answered quietly. “Converse wishes to make an early start. I would better say good-bye now.” He took her hand in his strong grasp, held it a moment as if words were not ready, then said calmly, “I hope you will have a pleasant summer.” “Just as if I were some ordinary acquaintance he had met on the street,” Polly told herself in the seclusion of her own room. “What does ail him!” CHAPTER II THE LETTER The City Hall clock struck twelve, and Polly Dudley was still awake. The circumstances of the afternoon were passing before her. What David had said and what she had said, when he had laughed and when he had been silent, what they had seen on the way--it was all there in the procession that had no end. Just now they were at the corner of Webster Street, where it joined Clayton Avenue. An Italian boy with a push-cart was on the cross-walk, and Polly and David waited to let him pass. A young man was coming towards them, a handsome young man in a shining car. Now he was lifting his hat with his usual splendid smile, the smile that showed his gleaming, perfect teeth-- “Oh!” Polly breathed suddenly, “that was it! Now I know! How could he be so silly! But it was! It is always some such little thing.” At last she had discovered the direct cause of her lover’s changed mood. She remembered how brilliantly Russell Ely had smiled to her as he passed, and then until this moment she had forgotten him altogether. Didn’t David want her even to bow to any one! But Russell was a member of the College Club! This explained everything. It seemed hours before sleep came to halt the wearying thoughts. Polly was called from breakfast to greet David. “We are not going to start as early as I expected,” he said, “not before nine. So I thought I would--just run up and say good-morning.” He smiled in almost his own cordial way.