ay to that."

"Well, if they won't give Diantha a wedding next year, I will. And
it'll be the kind," Persis promised solemnly, "that'll make Clematis
sit up and take notice."

Neither of the lovers spoke. Gazing down the winding road with the
dreamy air of one who sees beautiful visions, Persis broke the tense
silence.

"I've given up dressmaking for good, but there's one dress I'm willing
to break my rule for, and that's Diantha Sinclair's wedding gown. I've
got a picture of it in my mind's eye, if the styles don't change too
much between now and next June. And if anything could make Diantha
look sweeter than she does now, 'twould be that wedding dress. And the
making of it ain't going to cost her a cent."

Diantha leaned behind Thad's back and left a damp kiss on her friend's
forehead. Persis knew her battle was won. Thad knew it too, and a
hollow groan escaped him.

"By the way, Thad, I'm going to arrange with Mr. Sinclair to let you
call on Diantha twice a week, and if you should happen to feel like
seeing her between times, she's pretty likely to be at my house along
in the afternoon. If you should drop in 'most any day about four
o'clock, you'd probably find her. And now s'pose both of you come home
with me for supper. I'll telephone Diantha's folks where she is, so
they won't worry."

"I think--I think that'll be awfully nice, don't you, Thad?" said
Diantha.

And the loser in the unequal contest surrendered without a blow as he
answered, "Just as you say."

Persis had not overestimated her persuasive powers. She actually
brought the Sinclairs to agree to the liberal terms she had promised
the young people. The hauteur with which Stanley Sinclair received her
at his office the following day, and the explicitness of his statement
that he was not anxious for her advice concerning his domestic affairs,
proved unavailing before Persis' matter-of-fact bluntness. Anger
availed him little since she remained cool. His irony rebounded
harmless from her absolute certainty of being in the right. Forced to
retreat step by step, he ended by conceding all that she demanded for
the lovers. If he had an air when he bade her good morning, of
resolving never to forgive her, the knowledge that she had gained all
she came for imparted an unfeigned cordiality to her farewell.

The interview with Annabel was briefer and more dramatic, but quite as
conclusive. As she pondered on the success that had attended