s much that she
tried earnestly to follow. She was still striving to be the oak, and
she was still eagerly endeavoring to brush up against those necessary
outside interests. She was so thankful, in this connection, for Alice
Greggory, and for Arkwright and Hugh Calderwell. It was such a help that
she had them! They were not only very pleasant and entertaining outside
interests, but one or another of them was almost always conveniently
within reach.

Then, too, it pleased her to think that she was furthering the pretty
love story between Alice and Mr. Arkwright. And she _was_ furthering it.
She was sure of that. Already she could see how dependent the man was on
Alice, how he looked to her for approbation, and appealed to her on all
occasions, exactly as if there was not a move that he wanted to make
without her presence near him. Billy was very sure, now, of Arkwright.
She only wished she were as much so of Alice. But Alice troubled her.
Not but that Alice was kindness itself to the man, either. It was only
a peculiar something almost like fear, or constraint, that Billy thought
she saw in Alice's eyes, sometimes, when Arkwright made a particularly
intimate appeal. There was Calderwell, too. He, also, worried Billy. She
feared he was going to complicate matters still more by falling in love
with Alice, himself; and this, certainly, Billy did not want at all. As
this phase of the matter presented itself, indeed, Billy determined to
appropriate Calderwell a little more exclusively to herself, when the
four were together, thus leaving Alice for Arkwright. After all, it was
rather entertaining--this playing at Cupid's assistant. If she _could_
not have Bertram all the time, it was fortunate that these outside
interests were so pleasurable.

Most of the mornings Billy spent in the kitchen, despite the
remonstrances of both Pete and Eliza. Almost every meal, now, was graced
with a palatable cake, pudding, or muffin that Billy would proudly claim
as her handiwork. Pete still served at table, and made strenuous efforts
to keep up all his old duties; but he was obviously growing weaker, and
really serious blunders were beginning to be noticeable. Bertram even
hinted once or twice that perhaps it would be just as well to insist on
his going; but to this Billy would not give her consent. Even when one
night his poor old trembling hands spilled half the contents of a soup
plate over a new and costly evening gown of Billy's own, sh