are growing, Ruth," Mr. Howbridge said thoughtfully,
having ended the discussion of some minor point of business. He admired
Ruth's good sense as well as her character, and so frequently discussed
matters of business with her that he was not obliged by his oath of
office to do.

"In a few months we shall have considerable cash on hand in the bank;
and three and a half per cent. is small interest on a large sum of
money. Somehow we must invest it."

Ruth's eyes twinkled. "I suppose you really _need_ our advice, Mr.
Howbridge? Of course, if you left it to the Corner House girls to invest
it would probably bring in only a high percentage of enjoyment.

"Agnes would have a flock of automobiles. Tessie would spend it all on
making other people happy. Dot would have an entire sanitarium devoted
to the treatment of dolls."

"And you, my dear?" asked the lawyer, smiling.

"Ah, if you want my advice, Mr. Howbridge, you must do as all _your_
clients have to do. You must give me a retainer," and she rose,
laughing, to don her light coat.

"But I will keep my mind on it," she added. "Who knows? Perhaps some
wise thought may fly my way. And all that money! It will really make a
fine investment."

"Remember, you girls will expect your 'dots' out of the estate some
day," chuckled Mr. Howbridge. "Your own dowry will come first, I
presume, Ruth."

"Me? Get married? With the children so dependent upon me?" gasped the
eldest Corner House girl. But she blushed warmly and averted her eyes
from the shrewd gaze of the lawyer. "Now you are talking nonsense, Mr.
Howbridge."

He let her go without comment. But to himself he murmured:

"I never knew it to fail. These girls who are determined to be spinsters
are always the first to be caught in the coil of matrimony."

If Ruth's thoughts lingered upon such a ridiculous suggestion
(ridiculous from her standpoint) after she left the lawyer's house, her
expression of countenance did not show it. She walked cheerfully along
the shaded street toward Milton's railroad station, for the old Corner
House stood upon the corner of Willow and Main Streets, opposite the
Parade Ground, quite on the other side of town.

She crossed the canal and was almost in sight of the station when she
saw a tall figure ahead of her whose singular gait and old-fashioned
manner of dress would have caused comment anywhere.

To wear a "stove-pipe" hat on a hot day like this, with a heavy, dark
frock-coat and gr