worked up to it? A little appalled, a little abashed, but withal
atingle at her own daring, she breathlessly, even hopefully, awaited
his answer.

But father ruthlessly squashed her hopes with two fell sentences and
one terrifying oath.

"I should say not! You say he's dissipated and then in the same
breath ask me--for God's sake!"

"Well, maybe, he isn't so dissipated, father," she began
quaveringly, regretting the indiscretion into which eloquence had
enticed her.

"I don't care a whoop whether he is or not," said father
heartlessly. "What I want is for you to get it into your head, once
for all, that you're to have NOTHING to do with this fellow or any
other boy!"

Father's voice, usually so kind, had the doomsday quality that even
mother used only on very rare occasions. It reverberated in the
depths of Missy's being. They walked the last block in unbroken
silence. As they passed through the gate, walked up the front path,
shook the snow off their wraps on the porch, and entered the cosy-
lighted precincts of home, Missy felt that she was the most
wretched, lonely, misunderstood being in the world.

She said her good nights quickly and got off upstairs to her room.
As she undressed she could hear the dim, faraway sound of her
parents' voices. The sound irritated her. They pretended to love