"We will be just as we were, Bertha.

I will try and be the good elder brother, and scold you and look after you, and warn you, if it should be necessary, until you get under other guidance." "It will be some time," she said, quietly, "before that happens.

I have had a sharp lesson." "And did you really care for him much, Bertha ?" "I don't think that I really cared for him at all," she said.

"That is not the lesson that I was thinking of." He saw the colour mount into her cheeks as she twisted the handkerchief she held into a knot.

Then, turning to him, she said: "Frank, are you never going to give me a chance again ?" He could not misunderstand her.
"Do you mean--can you mean, Bertha ?" he said, in a low tone.