had gone.

Jerome, finishing his supper, said nothing, but he knew, and Paulina
Maria knew that he knew, there was already a mortgage on her house.
When Jerome rose from the table his mother pointed at the parcel on
the desk.

"What's that?" she asked.

"I had to buy a coat and vest if I was going to that party," replied
Jerome, with a kind of dogged embarrassment. He had never felt so
confused before his mother's sharp eyes since he was a child. If she
had blamed him for his purchase, he would have been an easy victim,
but she did not.

"What did you get?" she asked.

"I'll show you in the morning--you can see them better."

"Well, you needed them, if you are goin' to the party. You've got to
look a little like folks. Where you goin'?" for Jerome had started
towards the door.

"Into the parlor to get a book." He opened the door, but his mother
beckoned him back mysteriously, and he closed it softly.

"What is it?" he asked, wonderingly. "Who is there? Has Elmira got
company?"

"Belinda Lamb begun quizzin' as soon as she got in here; said she
thought she heard a man talkin', an' asked if it was you; an' when I
said it wa'n't, wanted to know who it was. I told her right to her
face it was none of her business."

"Who is it in there, mother?" asked Jerome.

"It ain't anybody to make any fuss about."

"Who is it in there with Elmira?"

"It's Lawrence Prescott, that's who it is," replied his mother, who
was more wary in defence than attack, yet defiant enough when the
struggle came. She looked at Jerome with unflinching eyes.

"Lawrence Prescott!"

"Yes, what of it?"

"Mother, he isn't going to pay attention to Elmira!"

"Why not, if he wants to? He's as likely a young fellow as there is
in town. She won't be likely to do any better."

Jerome stared at his mother in utter bewilderment. "Mother, are you
out of your senses?" he gasped.

"I don't know why I am," said she.

"Don't you know that Doctor Prescott would turn Lawrence out of house
and home if he thought he was going to marry Elmira?"

"I guess she's good enough for him. You can run down your own sister
all you want to, Jerome Edwards."

"I am not running her down. I don't deny she's good enough for any
man on earth, but not with the kind of goodness that counts. Mother,
don't you know that nothing but trouble can come to Elmira from this?
Lawrence Prescott can't marry her."

"I'd like to know what you mean by trouble comin' to her,"