demned."

Mrs. Decker was glad he had spoken about it. She had thought so too. But
she could not well be uncivil to Mr. Hamilton, who was a fine gentleman,
without making a powerful enemy. "And he's always treated me as if I was
a born lady in his own circle," added the little woman, with a certain
pride that made her husband fondly smile. "But I have thought of a plan.
He will not stay here if I should go away. If, for instance, I went
to San Francisco to visit ma for a few days, he would be gone before I
should return."

Mr. Decker was delighted. "By all means," he said, "go to-morrow. Jack
Oakhurst is going down; and I'll put you in his charge."

Mrs. Decker did not think it was prudent. "Mr. Oakhurst is our friend,
Joseph; but you know his reputation." In fact, she did not know that
she ought to go now, knowing that he was going the same day; but, with
a kiss, Mr. Decker overcame her scruples. She yielded gracefully. Few
women, in fact, knew how to give up a point as charmingly as she.

She staid a week in San Francisco. When she returned, she was a trifle
thinner and paler than she had been. This she explained as the result of
perhaps too active exercise and excitement. "I was out of doors nearly
all the time, as ma will tell you," she said to her husband, "and always
alone. I am getting quite independent now," she added gayly. "I don't
want any escort. I believe, Joey dear, I could get along even without
you, I'm so brave!"

But her visit, apparently, had not been productive of her impelling
design. Mr. Hamilton had not gone, but had remained, and called upon
them that very evening. "I've thought of a plan, Joey dear," said Mrs.
Decker, when he had departed. "Poor Mr. Oakhurst has a miserable room at
the hotel. Suppose you ask him, when he returns from San Francisco,
to stop with us. He can have our spare-room. I don't think," she added
archly, "that Mr. Hamilton will call often." Her husband laughed,
intimated that she was a little coquette, pinched her cheek,
and complied. "The queer thing about a woman," he said afterward
confidentially to Mr. Oakhurst, "is, that, without having any plan
of her own, she'll take anybody's, and build a house on it entirely
different to suit herself. And dern my skin if you'll be able to say
whether or not you didn't give the scale and measurements yourself!
That's what gets me!"

The next week Mr. Oakhurst was installed in the Deckers' cottage. The
business relations of he