'Rene is as good a child as ever there was; and I don't see but what
she's pretty-appearing enough to suit any one. She's pretty-behaved,
too; and she IS the most capable girl. I presume young men don't care
very much for such things nowadays; but there ain't a great many girls
can go right into the kitchen, and make such a custard as she did
yesterday. And look at the way she does, through the whole house! She
can't seem to go into a room without the things fly right into their
places. And if she had to do it to-morrow, she could make all her own
dresses a great deal better than them we pay to do it. I don't say but
what he's about as nice a fellow as ever stepped. But there! I'm
ashamed of going on so."

"Well, mother," said the girl after a pause, in which she looked as if
a little weary of the subject, "why do you worry about it? If it's to
be it'll be, and if it isn't----"

"Yes, that's what I tell your father. But when it comes to myself, I
see how hard it is for him to rest quiet. I'm afraid we shall all do
something we'll repent of afterwards."

"Well, ma'am," said Penelope, "I don't intend to do anything wrong; but
if I do, I promise not to be sorry for it. I'll go that far. And I
think I wouldn't be sorry for it beforehand, if I were in your place,
mother. Let the Colonel go on! He likes to manoeuvre, and he isn't
going to hurt any one. The Corey family can take care of themselves, I
guess."

She laughed in her throat, drawing down the corners of her mouth, and
enjoying the resolution with which her mother tried to fling off the
burden of her anxieties. "Pen! I believe you're right. You always do
see things in such a light! There! I don't care if he brings him down
every day."

"Well, ma'am," said Pen, "I don't believe 'Rene would, either. She's
just so indifferent!"

The Colonel slept badly that night, and in the morning Mrs. Lapham came
to breakfast without him.

"Your father ain't well," she reported. "He's had one of his turns."

"I should have thought he had two or three of them," said Penelope, "by
the stamping round I heard. Isn't he coming to breakfast?"

"Not just yet," said her mother. "He's asleep, and he'll be all right
if he gets his nap out. I don't want you girls should make any great
noise." "Oh, we'll be quiet enough," returned Penelope. "Well, I'm
glad the Colonel isn't sojering. At first I thought he might be
sojering." She broke into a laugh, and, struggling