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 "I should think it would be," he replied. And then he fell to thinking.

Would his engagement to Mabel, that he felt in honor bound to fulfil, ever become a millstone, a dead-weight, for him to carry! The thought of it made him shudder, and then and there he came to a decision, and the right way out of it all, and the only way, he saw plainly. He should leave college and go back to Oakland, marry, and take up his life as it had begun. He was very silent all the rest of the evening.

Ned and his sister sang duets, while he listened, and Mr. and Mrs. Bliss played dummy whist in the corner, until good-night time came.

During the morning hours Hart tossed uneasily, but his frame of mind did not alter. The next morning, at breakfast, his appearance caused Mrs. Bliss some uneasiness.

"I'm afraid you've been training too hard, Mr. Hart," she observed. "All that doesn't pay."

Ned tried to nudge his mother, but Hart replied:

"Perhaps I have, ma'am. Mr. Robinson said that I had grown a trifle stale."