hand there was a flash and
glitter of gems--a new splendid circle of diamonds scintillated on
Elinor's third finger.

"Oh, Norn," she gasped, dropping her hand and searching Elinor's
flushing face with questioning eyes. "You too?"

Elinor nodded mutely and clasped Patricia's two hands in her own.
Bruce took Patricia's other hand in his strong, warm grasp and the
three stood for a silent second as much apart from the gay, noisy scene
as though a curtain had dropped between them.

"I'm awfully glad," said Patricia, recovering herself first and
beginning to realize the joyfulness of the astounding news. "Let me
tell them, will you?"

It was not until all the guests had gone, and David and his friends had
taken their reluctant leave with fervid promises of speedy reunion at
Greycroft, and the packers had disappeared with the big canvas and the
cartoons [Transcriber's note: cartons?], and Hannah Ann and Henry had
reduced everything to a state of perfection that even the most critical
Symons in the world could not cavil at, and Bruce had said his last
farewells and was on the blue rug at the studio door with his hand on
the knob to usher them out, that Patricia found utterance for her
seething thoughts.

"I may be a believer in votes for women," she said solemnly, clasping
her vanity case so hard that she unconsciously shattered its clasp. "I
may be a yellow suffragist, as Judy calls me, but I must say, men can
make things mighty comfortable for you."

There was a shout of amazed laughter, but Patricia persisted:

"Look at us last fall before we discovered David; look at us now; look
at Miss Jinny; look at Elinor's canvas--which she couldn't have dreamed
of doing if Miss Auborn had been chaperoning her! I tell you, men have
ways of doing things that hit _the spot_, and I think it's a shame they
don't get the credit for it."

Bruce cocked his head mischievously at her.

"Are you going to promulgate that doctrine at the Suffrage League?" he
asked, beginning to turn the knob.

"Yes, I am--if I ever go there," returned Patricia with great spirit.
"But I shan't have time for a long while. I'm going to raise chickens
with Miriam Halden this summer, and I've got to start in right away
with the plans for the houses and yards."

Bruce flung the door wide.

"Well, we're turning another page of our lives," he said with a
backward glance at the rooms where they had been so busy and so happy.
"Who can say what will b