nearly had him."

"And so far as I can see," said Katy, "Miss Marian is taking it
without a struggle. She is not lifting a finger or making a move
to win him back."

"Of course she isn't!" said Linda indignantly. "If she thought
he preferred some other girl to her, she would merely say: 'If
John has discovered that he likes Eileen the better, why, that is
all right; but there wouldn't be anything to prevent seeing
Eileen take John from hurting like the deuce. Did you ever lose
a man you loved, Katy?"

"That I did not!" said Katy emphatically. "We didn't do any four
or five years' philanderin' to see if a man 'could make good'
when I was a youngster. When a girl and her laddie stood up to
each other and looked each other straight in the eye and had the
great understanding, there weren't no question of whether he
could do for her what her father and mither had been doing, nor
of how much he had to earn before they would be able to begin
life together. They just caught hands and hot-footed it to the
praste and told him to read the banns the next Sunday, and when
the law allowed they was man and wife and taking what life had
for them the way it came, and together. All this philanderin'
that young folks do nowadays is just pure nonsense, and waste of
time."

"Sure!" laughed Linda. "When my brave comes along with his
blanket I'll just step under, and then if anybody tries to take
my man I'll have the right to go on the warpath and have a