oked down at her. Somehow he had never seen her like this
before--that curious womanly expression.

"Tell me," was all she said.

And, as he told Tom Brainard's failure to fit in, he watched her
closely. "I'm sorry," he concluded.

"So am I, daddy," she returned steadily; "because I am going to marry
him."

"What?"

"Oh, you knew--you must have," she said, "when I asked you to give him
the chance."

The father was silent. In fancy he again heard Dolly Warner promising,
against her parents' advice, to wait for her John to "get on in the
world."

"Well?" he asked.

"Do you think you've given him a fair chance?"

He was restored to his usual poise. "I suppose he complained that I
didn't."

Dorothy's eyes went wide. "No, he said that after I had heard the news
from you, he would leave everything to me."

"Oh!"

"But, father, I don't think you _have_ been fair. Tom is right. _I_
don't chew gum, do I?"

"Well----" He was indignant. Then he stopped thoughtfully. "No."

"But Mary downstairs does. She wouldn't be offended at 'Lulu Tulu.' I
dare say she'd think it 'just grand.'"

He returned no answer.

"Come, daddy," she went on. "New York has grown lots--even since I was
little. And--and some people get behind the times. They think they're
being dignified when it's only that they're antiquated."

He looked shrewdly at her. "I never heard you talk like that before.
Where did you----"

"Tom said that a week ago," she admitted. "And he said, too, that he
could double the results if he only had full swing. Instead, you admit
he's a mere clerk for that horrid Pepper. Oh, daddy, daddy," she
pleaded. "Give him a chance." Then her voice went low again. "I'm going
to marry him anyway," she said, "and you don't want this between. If he
fails, I'll stand the loss from what mother left me. Give him full
swing--a real chance, daddy! He's going to be--_your son_."

John Houghton looked into the earnest girlish face. He wound the curl
about his finger. "Kaufmann has always wanted to visit the Fatherland,"
he said irrelevantly.

She gave a quick, eager look. "And that Pepper could go on a vacation."

* * * * *

Days drag very slowly at a summer resort, especially when one has
promised not to write to him. But Dorothy's father had kept his word, so
she could but do the same. Behind, in the sweltering city, in full
charge for six weeks was Tom Brainard. His authority included permissi