"Nolan, if you do not keep still and pay attention, I shall stop talking
and let you propose,--right before Marie,--and then where will you be?"

"Married, I hope."

So Eveley decided there was no use to try to talk sense with Nolan, but
she arranged to call for him at eight o'clock the next morning to take
him to Eileen's and show him the blue Red-Riding-Hoods and the toys.

As she left the house to keep her engagement with Nolan, she was
surprised to see Mrs. Severs starting out, for Mrs. Severs was not used
to being out so early.

"Why, little Bride, whither away?" laughed Eveley.

Mrs. Severs flushed. "I am going to spend the day with father," she
admitted, rather shyly. "It is sort of lonesome here alone all the
time,--and we have lots of fun in the little cottage on the hill. And
sometimes we go out on the beach and lie on the sand,--he takes me in his
jitney. He thinks I need more sunshine and fresh air."

"He is great, isn't he?" said Eveley warmly.

"He is dear," cried Mrs. Severs, the quick color surging her face. "I am
not very well, and he is so gentle and sweet to me. I--wish I had been
more patient,--I am very lonely now. But we are great chums. He has
taught me to play pinochle, and I fill his pipe for him. And onions
aren't so bad."

"Hum," thought Eveley, as she drove down-town. "You can't suit some
people, no matter how finely you adjust their difficulties." Then she
brightened. "Still, it is better to love each other in two houses, than
to be bad friends in one,--as they were."

That evening, she and Eileen stood at the station impatiently
waiting,--having arrived at five-thirty, fearing the train might come
ahead of time.

"Oh, Eveley," Eileen wailed. "Suppose they should not like me?"

Eveley laughed at that. "Suppose you do not like them?" she parried.

"I do. I haven't seen them for over two years, but they are adorable.
They are seven now. The prettiest things,--long yellow curls, and--"

"Billy will probably be shaved by this time,--I mean barbered."

"Oh, never. No one would cut off curls like his. Their hair will be
longer I suppose, probably darker,--and Betty lisps and swallows while
she is talking,--"

"Oh, she will be over that now."

"In two years? Why, certainly not. They will be just the same, only more
so."

Eveley began to experience a curious internal sinking. Eileen was too
deliriously optimistic about those children. They were angel babies, of
course, for Eile