"Sadie, did you have an appointment to meet Mr. Willard to-night?"
she inquired.
"Well, suppose I did!" was the defiant retort.
"If you did, you certainly had no right to draw me into anything of the kind," said Katherine, indignantly. "It was not an honorable thing to do."
"Well, what are you going to do about it? Are you going to give me away?" demanded the girl, tartly.
Katherine flushed.
"I have no wish to tell tales of anyone," she replied; "but, truly, I do not like what I have heard and seen to-night. Sadie, I overheard what Mr. Willard said to you just as we were getting on the car."
"Lor"! Did you? Well, of course, he didn"t like it; to have all our fun spoiled and---"
"And it proved to me that you are in the habit of meeting him clandestinely," interposed Katherine, determined to sift the affair to the bottom.
"I"m sure I don"t know what business you have to meddle,"
spiritedly began the girl, when Katherine checked her again by saying:
"You know, Sadie, that my only thought is to save you from getting into trouble," and she laid a gentle hand upon the arm of the angry girl.
"I reckon I made a mistake asking you to go with me," Sadie observed, in a calmer tone after a moment of silence, "but--but-- Katherine, I might as well own up--I"m--engaged to Ned Willard."
"Engaged! Sadie! Where did you meet him? How long have you known him?" exclaimed Katherine, aghast.
"Oh, about three months. I met him the night Mrs. Bryant gave that theater party."
"Did Mrs. Bryant introduce him to you? Was he with her party?"
"N-o; but Nellie Nixon knew him and introduced us on our way out after the play."
"Does your guardian know of your engagement?"
"No. Ned thought it would be as well not to say anything about it at present," Sadie reluctantly admitted, but cringing visibly at the question.
"Dearest," said Katherine, fondly, "I feel that I have no right to "meddle," as you say, in your affairs, but I do not see how you can respect or trust a man who would draw you into a secret engagement and then endanger your reputation and standing in school by insisting upon clandestine meetings. If he possessed a fine sense of honor he would go to your guardian, frankly tell him of his regard for you, and ask his permission to address you openly. What is Mr. Willard"s business, Sadie?"
"I--I don"t know," the girl confessed, with embarra.s.sment. Then bridling, added: "Well, but I don"t care shucks about that. I have money enough for both--or shall have next year, when I am twenty- one."
"I am afraid he is of the same opinion," Katherine said, to herself; but, thinking it might be unwise to dwell upon that point, made no reply.
"You are not going to tell anyone, honey," Sadie pleaded, and pausing upon the steps before entering the building. "I think it will be downright mean if you do," she added, hotly, as she saw the troubled look on her chum"s face.
"Sadie, I wouldn"t for the world do anything for the sake of being "mean"; but I am sure you are doing very wrong, and will deeply regret it some day," was the grave reply.
"If you give me away it will get me into an awful sc.r.a.pe."
"I know it; and my greatest concern is to save you from anything of the kind. Will you stop meeting Mr. Willard on the sly?"
"Oh, Katherine, and not see him at all!" exclaimed Sadie, in a voice of dismay.
"Dear, are you so fond of him?" queried Katherine, gently.
The girl flushed from neck to brow.
"Indeed--indeed, I am," she confessed, with downcast eyes.
"Well, then, if it has gone that far he should at least allow you to respect him!" said Katherine, a thrill of indignation vibrating in her tones. "Don"t go on this way, Sadie," she pleaded; "write him that you cannot meet him again in any such way; but tell him, if he will make himself known to your guardian, and get his permission to call upon you, you will receive him here."
"If I will do that, will you promise not to say anything about to- night?" demanded the girl, eagerly.
"Yes," Katherine replied, after a moment of thought; at the same time she did not feel quite satisfied with the state of affairs.
"All right; I will write Ned to-morrow and tell him," Sadie returned, with a sigh of relief as they entered the building and pa.s.sed on to their room.
Before going to rest, Katherine slipped away to see Miss Reynolds and ascertain if she could do anything for her before retiring.
She found her reading, but Miss Reynolds at once laid down her book and welcomed the girl with a bright smile.
"I am all right, Kathie, and I have been having a perfect feast,"
she said, touching the "Science and Health" in her lap.
They spent a few minutes in social chat, then she sent Katherine away, saying she must make up the sleep she had lost the night before, and our faithful little Scientist was glad, after her busy day, to seek her couch, where she was soon sleeping peacefully and knew no more until she awoke the next morning to find the bright May sunshine flooding her room, and told herself, with a sigh of content, that it was the Sabbath, and a whole restful day of truth and love before her.
She was made happy, on descending to breakfast, to find Miss Reynolds in her accustomed seat. They exchanged smiling glances, and, later, the teacher said, in a low tone:
"Come to my room this afternoon, Kathie, if you have nothing special to do; I have more questions for you."
Katherine said she would, and, as soon as the meal was over, hastened away to prepare for church.
It was a beautiful day, and she decided to walk instead of taking a car, as usual. She reached the hall just in season to slip into a seat before the opening hymn was given out.
When she arose with the congregation to sing, she glanced around to see if there was anyone near her whom she knew. Her astonishment may be imagined when her eye fell upon Jennie Wild, just across the aisle from her.
The girl had also espied her and nodded a smiling and half-defiant recognition, which Katherine gravely returned.
CHAPTER XIII.
THE STORY OF A STRAY WAIF.
For a moment Katherine felt as if she were being made the target for the arrows of error from every quarter; for here was another lawless girl on her hands, and another infraction of rules which threatened to involve her in disagreeable complications.
But, after silently declaring that "evil could not make her its channel, either directly or indirectly," she resolutely put disturbing thoughts away, determined that her mind should not be distracted from the lesson.