She forgot that she had told him the night before that he was the luckiest boy in the world to have a chance to do such splendid work as Mr. Thompson had mapped out for him. She asked, anxiously:
“Do you have to, Tommy?”
“Yes,” he answered, gloomily.
“I mean to-day?”
She looked at him. It thrilled him so that he instantly reacted to a sense of duty.
“Yes,” he said, grimly; “I must. I—” He caught himself.
“You what?”
“I'll tell you some day.” He spoke almost threateningly.
“Why can't you—” she began, irrepressibly.
He shook his head so firmly and withal miserably that she looked away and said: