"You can go alone, Tom Moore."

"I can, but I don't want to, Bessie."

"You would be almost there now if you had n't stopped to talk."

"Won't you come, Bessie?"

"I suppose I will have to do it to please you," said the girl, yielding with a little sigh.

"Won't it please you, too?" said Moore, stopping her.

"But, Tom--"

"Won't it?" he insisted.

"Yes,--yes,--yes!" she replied, with increasing emphasis on each reiteration.

Moore let her pass, and she paused at the door, looking over her plump shoulder.