y solemn with excitement, to shut themselves
in their room for the rest of the afternoon.

A few minutes before the dinner-hour Mrs. Baldwin, triumphant in satin
and lace, paused at their door.

"Ready, twinnies?" she began, then stared as though disbelieving her
eyes. In the glow of the student-lamp sat the twins, books in their
hands and piled high on the table beside them; their smooth, dark hair
was unpompadoured, their shoulders were lost in the dark blouses of
every day.

"What does this mean?" Mrs. Baldwin asked shortly, fire in her eyes.

"Mother, we told you we could not go to any more parties, and why," Cora
answered, a note of pleading in her voice.

"We begin teaching on Monday in Miss Browne's school," added Dora more
stoutly. "We have tried your way for years and years, mother. Now we
have to try ours."

Mrs. Baldwin's lace bertha rose and fell sharply.

"Indeed. I am sorry to disappoint you, but so long as you live under my
roof, you will have to conform to the ways of my household."

"Then, mother, we can not stay under your roof."

"As you please! I leave the choice entirely to you." She swept out,
leaving them breathless but resolute.

"I am glad of it!" said Dora with trembling lips.

In explaining their absence at dinner, Mrs. Baldwin was lightly humorous
about the twins' devotion: one could not weather a headache without the
other. Mr. White and Mr. Morton exchanged glances, and showed interest
in the topic, as if they were on the track of some new sociological
fact.

Later in the evening, the twins, their spirits restored, stole to the
top of the stairs and peered down at the whirling couples, exultant not
to be among them. Mr. White was standing just below, and he glanced up,
as if he might have been listening. His face brightened.

"May I come up?" he signaled, and mounted two steps at a time, keen
interest in his thin, intellectual face.

"Is it really headache, or is it revolution?" he asked without preface.
"Morton and I have been longing to know, all the evening."

"Revolution," said the twins.

"How very interesting! Do you know, we came to-night just to see if you
would be there. You--you staggered us, the other evening. We were glad
when you didn't appear--if you won't misunderstand. It is so unexpected,
in this environment. I shall be curious to see how far you can carry it
out." He was leaning against the banister, looking at them as if they
were abstract propositions