"What office you goin' to?" asked the mother sharply.

"Why, George's, of course," said Clara; "You know I wouldn't go anywhere
else."

"Oh well, get along then; I guess the weather won't hurt you; its
clearin' off a little anyway. I'll fix up a bit and you can bring
George home to supper." And the old lady grew quite cheerful as she
watched the sturdy figure of her daughter making her way down the board
walk and through the front gate.

George Udell was a thriving job printer in Boyd City, and stood high
in favor of the public generally, and of the Wilson family in
particular, as might be gathered from the conversation of Clara's
mother. "I tell you," she said, in her high-pitched tones, "George
Udell is good enough fer any gal. He don't put on as much style as
some, an' aint much of a church man; but when it comes to makin' money
he's all there, an' that's the main thing now-a-days."

As for Clara, she was not insensible to the good points in Mr. Udell's
character, of which money-making was by no means the most important,
for she had known him ever since the time, when as a long, lank, awkward
boy, he had brought her picture cards and bits of bright-colored
printing. She was a wee bit of a girl then, but somehow, her heart
told her that her friend was more honest than most boys, and, as she
grew older, in spite of her religious convictions, she had never been
forced to change her mind.

But George Udell was not a Christian. Some said he was an infidel; at
least he was not a member of any church; and when approached on the