. He watched her as she made
an announcement to the party, saw them laugh uproariously, and smiled
in triumph over the evidence of annoyance on the part of Fairfax.
Nellie was whispering something close to the big man's ear, and he was
shaking his head vigorously. Then she waved her hand to the party and
started away. Fairfax arose to follow her. As he did so, Harvey came
to his feet and advanced. The big man stopped short, with a look of
actual alarm in his eyes, and went back to his seat, hastily motioning
to the head waiter.

Five minutes later Miss Duluth emerged from the cafe, followed by the
little man in the checked suit.

An attendant blew his whistle and called out down the line of waiting
motors:--

"Mr. Fairfax's car up!"

"Get me a taxi," ordered Nellie, hastily.

The man betrayed his surprise. She was obliged to repeat the order.

"What does a taxi to--to our place cost?" demanded Harvey, feeling in
his pocket.

"Never mind," she snapped. "I'll pay for it."

"No, you won't," he asserted. "I raised seventeen dollars yesterday on
the watch mother gave me. It's my own money, Nellie, remember that."

Rachel was plainly amazed when the couple walked into the apartment.
The two at once resumed the conversation they had carried on so
vigorously in the taxicab on the way up from downtown. Nellie did not
remove her hat, sharply commanding Rachel to leave the room.

"No," she said, "she simply has to go to the convent. She'll be safe
there, no matter how things turn out for you and me, Harve, I insist
on that."

"Things are going to turn out all right for us, Nellie," he protested,
a plaintive note in his voice. It was easily to be seen which had been
the dominating force in the ride home.

"Now, you've got to be reasonable, Harve," she said, firmly. "We can't
go on as we have been going. Something's just got to happen."

"Well, doggone it, haven't I said that I'll agree to your trip to
Europe? I won't put a stop to that. I see your point clearly. The
managers think it wise for you to do a bit of studying abroad. I can
see that. I'm not going to be mean. Three months' hard work over there
will get you into grand-opera sure. But that has nothing to do with
Phoebe. She can go to Blakeville with me, and then when you come back
next fall I'll have a job here in New York and we'll----"

"Don't talk foolishness," she blurted out. "You've said that three or
four times. First you wanted me to go back to Bla