Sometimes it had been
the hinges and sometimes it had been the lock which had been out of
order on that door for at least a year, and although they had been
tinkering here and tinkering there, the door had never worked properly;
and now Mrs. Cliff had said that it must be put in perfect order even if
a new door and a new frame were required, and without any regard to what
it might cost. This to Willy was the dawn of a new era, and the thought
of it excited her like wine.

Mrs. Cliff's mind was not excited; it was disquieted. She had been
thinking of her investments and of her deposits, all of which had been
made under wise advice, and it had suddenly occurred to her to calculate
how much richer she was to-day than she had been yesterday. When she
appreciated the fact that the interest on her invested property had
increased her wealth, since the previous morning, by some hundreds of
dollars, it frightened her. She felt as if an irresistible flood of
opulence was flowing in upon her, and she shuddered to think of the
responsibility of directing it into its proper courses, and so
preventing it from overwhelming her and sweeping her away.

To-morrow there would be several hundred dollars more, and the next day
more, and so on always, and what was she doing, or what had she planned
to do, to give proper direction to these tidal waves of wealth? She had
bought a new dish-pan and ordered a door repaired!

To be sure, it was very soon to begin to think of the expenditure of her
income, but it was a question which could not be postponed. The
importance of it was increasing all the time. Every five minutes she was
two dollars richer.

For a moment she wished herself back in Paris or New York. There she
might open some flood-gate which would give instant relief from the
pressure of her affluence and allow her time to think; but what could
she do in Plainton? At least, how should she begin to do anything?

She got up and walked about the room. She was becoming annoyed, and even
a little angry. She resented this intrusion of her wealth upon her. She
wanted to rest quietly for a time, to enjoy her home and friends, and
not be obliged to think of anything which it was incumbent upon her to
do. From the bottom of her heart she wished that her possessions had all
been solid gold, or in some form in which they could not increase,
expand, or change in any way until she gave them leave. Then she would
live for a week or two, as she u