ss of her allowance.) "Anyhow, I don't see why I can't live
near my friends and have a decent--"

The old lady's lips tightened.

"In my days young girls did not pretend to decide where their parents
should live."

"These aren't your days, grandma, thank heaven!... If a girl is going to
get anything out of life--"

"You've had a great deal--"

"Thanks to the friends I've made for myself."

"It might be better if you cared less to go with folks above you--"

"Above me!" the exasperated girl flashed. "Who's above me? Nelly Kemp?
Sally Norton?--Above me!"

That was the flaming note of Milly's intense Americanism. As a social,
human being she recognized no superiors. There were richer, cleverer,
better educated women, no doubt, but in this year of salvation and hope,
1890, there were none "above her." Never!...

Mrs. Ridge discreetly shifted the point of attack.

"It might be disastrous for your father if you were to break up his
home."

"You talk so tragically, grandma! Who's thinking of breaking up homes?
Just moving a couple of miles across the city to another house in
another street. What difference does it make to a man what old house he
comes home to after his work is done?"

"You forget his church relations, Milly."

"You seem to think there are no churches on the North Side."

"But he's made his place here--and Dr. Barlow has a good influence upon
him."

Milly knew quite well the significance of these words. There had been a
time when Horatio did not come home every night sober, and did not go to
church on Sundays. When the little old lady wished to check the soaring
ambition of her granddaughter, she had but to refer to this dark period
in the Ridge history. Milly did not like to think of those dreary days,
and was inclined to put the responsibility for them upon her dead
mother. "If she'd only known how to manage him--" For with all men Milly
thought it was simply a question of management.

"Well," she announced at last. "I'm tired and want to go to bed. Come,
Cheriki, darling!" Cheriki was a fuzzy toy spaniel, the gift of an
admirer. Milly poked the animal from her bed, and the old lady, who
loathed dogs, scuttled out of the room. She had been routed again.
Knowing Milly's obstinate nature, she felt that she must battle daily
for the right.

But Milly did not return to the attack for some time. She stayed at home
for several evenings and was very sweet with her father. She
ostentatiously re