the
stairs, as they went up to dress, Claribel shook her fist in their
faces.

"That's what we get for having the latch-string of our ancestors in
our keeping," she exclaimed. "It's pretty well frayed out by this
time, and cannot stand many more strains like this. It seems to me
that we are sort of acting a lie. Mam Daphne will wait on the table
to-day, and Mrs. Gorham will see what a spread we have, and will think
that we live that way all the time."

"Well," said Wilma, hopefully, "we will live that way all the time
when sister's 'Romance of Carrington' is published. How good it will
be to feel able to ask the girls to stay to lunch any time they happen
to drop in, and not have to be wondering if the butter will hold out!"

Despite their disappointment, the day proved a pleasant one, for Mrs.
Gorham brought with her a breath from the outside world for which
they longed. She entertained them with stories of her travels, of her
daughter's experiences at boarding-school and her son Tom's escapades
at college. She praised Claribel's embroidery and Wilma's little
water-colour sketches, and she left without discovering all the
ravages time had wrought in beautiful old Marchmont. For they sat out
on the porch nearly all day, and the rose mantle of the Gloire de
Dijon hid a multitude of sins of omission in the way of neglected
repairs.

[Illustration: "SHE ENTERTAINED THEM WITH STORIES OF HER TRAVELS"]

Several days later, when Mrs. Gorham wrote to Agnes, thanking her for
the pleasure the visit had given her, she added: "I have talked so
much about Marchmont since my return, of its roses, of its hospitality
and its charming girls, that Tom declares he intends to follow my
example and drop by some day for a call. He may carry out his threat
this summer, as a little business matter may call him to that part of
the State. I have assured him your latch-string will be out to him as
it was to me, for old time's sake. I shall be very glad to have him
know the daughters of my old friend."

"Oh," cried Wilma, as Agnes read the letter aloud, "if he is half as
interesting as his mother's tales of him, he must be a real Prince
Charming. But, oh, girls, _don't_ you hope he'll wait until
'Carrington' is out? It would be dreadfully embarrassing if, after his
mother's account of our hospitality, we could give him only scraps.
There can't always be a picnic basket to fall back on."

The prospective guest was often discussed during