Page:Hegan Rice--Mrs Wiggs of the cabbage patch.djvu/49

 She was very young, with the stern, uncompromising standards of girlhood; life was black or white to her, and time had not yet filled in the canvas with the myriad grays that blend into one another until all lines are effaced, and only the Master Artist knows the boundaries.

She looked up through her tears. "I 'll try to forgive you," she said, tremulously; "but you must promise to give up your friendship for Dick Harris."

Redding frowned and bit his lip. "That's not fair!" he said. "You know Dick's my chum; that he has n't the least influence over me; that I am about the only one to stand by him."

"I am not afraid of his influence, but I don't want people to see you together; it makes them say things."

"But, Lucy, you would n't have me