[16]

David Vallory had sat down again, and a boyish flush came to darken the healthy brown which was the gift of a more or less athletic youth.

“I didn’t intend to tell you—not just yet,” he demurred; “at least, not until I had shown you that I could make good on my own, and prove that you haven’t been throwing your money away on me. I—I’ve found the girl, Dad.”

The older man leaned back in his chair and the tired eyes were closed.

“That is natural, and was to be expected,” he acquiesced. “You have been very moderate, David. Many another young fellow would have found, not one girl, but a round dozen, before reaching your age.”

David Vallory’s laugh matched the absurdity of the “round dozen.”

“Nothing like that; I’m not built that way, I guess,” he returned. “There is only one girl, and though I hadn’t realized it until lately, I think I discovered her to be that one while I was still wearing knickerbockers.”

Adam Vallory nodded as one who understood.

“I have often wondered if it might not turn out that way,” he said; “wondered and been just a trifle—no, I won’t say it. Judith is a good girl,[17] and she will doubtless make you a warm-hearted, loyal wife.”

[17]

“Judith?” said David, and now his flush was darker.

“Yes. You thought you were mighty secret about it, but I knew it, all along; knew that you were corresponding with her while you were at college, and missed you every time you spent an evening at the Fallons’. It’s all right, son. I haven’t a word to say.”

“But—but—you’re tremendously mistaken, Dad!” the younger man protested earnestly. “There has never been anything serious between Judith and me. We were just good chums together in school, and——”

“Hold on a minute, son,” said Adam Vallory gently. “We have no money, but we still have a few traditions. One of them is that no man of the Vallory name has ever put the burden of proof on a woman, so far as the records show. You admit that you wrote to Judith while you were in college, and all Middleboro knows that you were always going about with her in your vacations. Haven’t you been writing back and forth while you were in Florida?”

“Oh, 

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