buy me a
cigar somewhere. Here's the money."

"Cigar, sir? Yes, sir. What kind do you--"

"Any kind; only get it quick."

Then, as the door closed behind the dignified Hapgood, he added:

"I've got three cigars in my pocket now, but that doesn't matter. I had
to send him after somethin'! Say, Serena, is it real necessary to have
that undertaker hangin' over us ALL the time? Every time he looks at
me I feel as if he was takin' my measure. Has EVERY meal got to be a
funeral?"

There was no doubt that the captain noticed the difference. He noticed
it more the following day, and more still on each succeeding one.

The next evening the Blacks called--called in state. A note from Mrs.
Black, arriving by the morning's post, announced their coming. Serena
noted the Black stationery, its quality and the gilded monogram, and
resolved to order a supply of her own immediately. Also she bade her
husband don his newest and best. She did the same, and when Captain Dan,
painfully conscious of a pair of tight shoes, entered the drawing-room
he found her already there.

"My!" he exclaimed, regarding her with admiration, "you do look fine,
Serena. Is that the one the Boston dressmaker made?"

"Yes. I'm glad you like it."

"Couldn't help likin' it. I can't hardly realize it's my wife that's got
it on. Walk around and let me take an observation. Whew! I always
said you looked ten years younger than you are. THAT rig don't spell
forty-five next January, Serena."

Mrs. Dott sniffed.

"Don't remind me of my age, Daniel," she protested. "It isn't necessary
to tell everyone how old I am."

"All right. Nobody'd guess it, anyhow. But how funny you walk. What
makes you take such little short steps?"

"I can't help it. This dress--gown, I mean--is so tight I can hardly
step at all."

"Have to shake out a reef, won't you? How in the world did you get
downstairs--hop?"

"Hush! Don't be foolish. The gown is no tighter than anyone else's. It's
the style, Daniel, and you and I must get used to it. Are those your new
shoes?"

"They certainly are. Do they look as new as they feel? I walk about the
way you do, Serena. Bein' in style ain't all joy, is it?"

"It's better than being out of it. And, Daniel, please remember not to
say 'ain't.' I've asked you so many times. We have our opportunity now
and so must improve ourselves. You're not keeping store in the country
any longer. You are a man of means, living among cultivated society