"Lena Lingard lets me kiss her," I retorted,
"and I'm not half as fond of her as I am of
you."

"Lena does?" Tony gasped. "If she's up
to any of her nonsense with you, I'll scratch
her eyes out!" She took my arm again and we
walked out of the gate and up and down the
sidewalk. "Now, don't you go and be a fool
like some of these town boys. You're not going
to sit around here and whittle store-boxes and
tell stories all your life. You are going away
to school and make something of yourself. I'm
just awful proud of you. You won't go and get
mixed up with the Swedes, will you?"

"I don't care anything about any of them
but you," I said. "And you'll always treat
me like a kid, I suppose."

She laughed and threw her arms around
me. "I expect I will, but you're a kid I'm aw-
ful fond of, anyhow! You can like me all you
want to, but if I see you hanging round with
Lena much, I'll go to your grandmother, as
sure as your name's Jim Burden! Lena's all
right, only -- well, you know yourself she's
soft that way. She can't help it. It's natural
to her."

If she was proud of me, I was so proud of her

[[255]]

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