h!" he observed, "what sort of talk do you call that? I thought
those two were chums; and yet I didn't know but they was goin' to fight
one spell. It's a good thing you hove in that about the rain when you
did, Serena."

Serena was grave. "Gertie," she inquired, "did you ask that young man to
call here?"

Gertrude was the picture of surprised innocence.

"Ask him to call?" she repeated. "Mr. Holway, do you mean? I don't know.
I think not. Why?"

"WHY?" Captain Dan almost shouted it. His wife motioned him to be quiet.

"Hush, Daniel," she said. "You know why, Gertie, as well as I do. You
are engaged to be married."

Gertrude smiled. "Of course I am," she answered. "What of it?"

"What OF IT?"

"Hush, Daniel, hush! Engaged girls, Gertie, are not supposed to have
young men calling upon them."

"Oh," with a shrug. "I don't know that he was calling on me. He did
not ask for me when he came. And you and Daddy were here all the time.
Besides, merely because I am engaged isn't any reason why I should
retire from the world altogether, is it? Mrs. Lake says--"

Daniel struck the table with his fist.

"Mrs. Lake!" he shouted. "Mrs. Lake don't live with her husband. She's a
grass widow, that's what she is."

"She is one of Mother's dearest friends, and any friend of Mother's
should be good enough for me."

The captain choked. "You--you talk to her, Serena," he stammered; "I
can't."

Serena looked more troubled than ever.

"Gertie," she faltered, "if Mrs. Lake has been advising you--to--to--"

"She hasn't advised me at all. Now, Mother, what IS the use of all this?
If I have learned anything from you and your Chapter friends it is to
be broad-minded and independent. If Mrs. Lake is not a living example of
independence, who is?"

Serena could not seem to find an answer at the moment. Her husband tried
again.

"Gertie Dott," he declared, "I--I don't know what to make of you, all at
once. And John Doane wouldn't either. If John knew--"

Gertrude interrupted. "That's enough, Daddy," she said, firmly. "I am
quite willing John shall know; when I am ready I shall tell him. He is a
dear, good fellow, in his way, but--"

She hesitated. Her parents asked a question in concert.

"But what?" they demanded.

"Why--why, nothing of importance. But I am learning here in Scarford. My
opportunity has come, just as yours did, Mother. I am a free woman and I
shall not be a slave--a SLAVE to any man."

With which remark, a