She trusted him—she trusted him still! And she did not know the truth.
He was engaged to Inza!
CHAPTER III.
MAKING A FRIEND.
Bart Hodge had missed Merry from the throng of rollicking seniors. A little while before Frank had been in the midst of the sport; now he was gone. For a while Hodge continued to take part in the top-spinning, but his heart was not in it. He looked around and saw that he was not the only one who found it impossible to drag back his boyhood in such a manner. He saw that there were others who were taking part in the top-spinning simply because it was a privilege of seniors at this time. Some there were who laughed and joked and were merry, but, strangely enough, it seemed to Bart that these did not realize how sad a thing it was to lose their boyhood. So Hodge drifted away by himself, giving himself up to thoughts that were both pleasant and otherwise.
Bart’s boyhood had not been the pleasantest imaginable. His father was a careless, self-indulgent man, and he had given little thought to the manner in which Bart was coming up. Bart had been given almost everything he desired, and, thus pampered, it was not strange that he came to be regarded as a “spoiled child.” If he fretted for anything, he was given that which he desired in order to pacify him. Finding that he could win his own way with a pout and a whine, he pouted and whined more and more.
His mother saw with some alarm what was happening, but it was useless for her to try to reason with his father. “Oh, give the boy what he wants, and keep him still!” was the way Bart’s father settled it. His mother, knowing the real disposition of his father, feared for the future, and her fears were justified.
As Bart grew older, his demands became harder to satisfy, but he had a way of making life miserable for everybody around if he did not get his way. More and more he annoyed his father. “The boy must go away to school,” Mr. Hodge had decided at last. His mother would have kept him home a little longer, but his father had decreed.
Bart, however, had no fancy for going away to school. He swore he would not stay, and he did not. In less than two weeks he was sent home, expelled.