Jack's fingers itched to get hold of his derisive questioner, but he had
a duty to perform, and he contented himself with saying: "Just wait a
few minutes, and I'll let you know."

"I dare say you will," was the reply. "I rather think I shall have to
wait till both of us are gray before that time."

"You will not have to wait long before you are black and blue," retorted
Jack.

"Don't mind what he says, Jack," whispered Ida, fearing that he would
leave her.

"Don't be afraid, Ida; I won't leave you. I'll attend to his business
another time. I guess he won't trouble us to-morrow."

Meanwhile the boy, emboldened by Jack's passiveness, followed, with more
abuse of the same sort. If he had been wiser, he would have seen a storm
gathering in the flash of Jack's eye; but he mistook the cause of his
forbearance.

The next day, as they were going to school, Ida saw the same boy dodging
round the corner with his head bound up.

"What's the matter with him, Jack?" she asked.

"I licked him like blazes, that's all," said Jack, quietly. "I guess
he'll let us alone after this."

Even after Jack left school, and got a position in a store at two