oody! goody! Last time you wouldn't let me
go."

"That's why papa's going to take you this time," Ina said.

These ethical balances having been nicely struck, Ina proposed another:

"But," she said, "but, you must eat more supper or you can _not_ go."

"I don't want any more." Monona's look was honest and piteous.

"Makes no difference. You must eat or you'll get sick."

"No!"

"Very well, then. No ice cream soda for such a little girl."

Monona began to cry quietly. But she passed her plate. She ate, chewing
high, and slowly.

"See? She can eat if she will eat," Ina said to Dwight. "The only
trouble is, she will _not_ take the time."

"She don't put her mind on her meals," Dwight Herbert diagnosed it. "Oh,
bigger bites than that!" he encouraged his little daughter.

Di's mind had been proceeding along its own paths.

"Are you going to take Jenny and Bobby too?" she inquired.

"Certainly. The whole party."

"Bobby'll want to pay for Jenny and I."

"Me, darling," said Ina patiently, punctiliously--and less punctiliously
added: "Nonsense. This is going to be papa's little party."

"But we had the engagement with Bobby. It was an engagement."

"Well," said Ina, "I think we'll just set that aside--that important
engagement. I think we just will."

"Papa! Bobby'll want to be the one to pay for Jenny and I--"

"Di!" Ina's voice dominated all. "Will you be more careful of your
grammar or shall I speak to you again?"

"Well, I'd rather use bad grammar than--than--than--" she looked
resentfully at her mother, her father. Their moral defection was evident
to her, but it was indefinable. They told her that she ought to be
ashamed when papa wanted to give them all a treat. She sat silent,
frowning, put-upon.

"Look, mamma!" cried Monona, swallowing a third of an egg at one
impulse. Ina saw only the empty plate.

"Mamma's nice little girl!" cried she, shining upon her child.

The rules of the ordinary sports of the playground, scrupulously
applied, would have clarified the ethical atmosphere of this little
family. But there was no one to apply them.

* * * * *

When Di and Monona had been excused, Dwight asked:

"Nothing new from the bride and groom?"

"No. And, Dwight, it's been a week since the last."

"See--where were they then?"

He knew perfectly well that they were in Savannah, Georgia, but Ina
played his game, told him, and retold bits that the letter had said