new in a Bates wedding. Oh, but I had a splendid time!"

George Holt looked at his mother in too great disgust to conceal his
feelings.

"ANOTHER gilt-edged scandal gone sky high," he said. Then he turned to
Kate. "One of the women who worked in your mother's kitchen is
visiting here, and she started a great hullabaloo because you were not
at the wedding. You probably haven't got a leg left to stand on. I
suspect the old cats of Walden have chewed them both off, and all the
while you were happy, and doing the thing any girl would much rather
have done. Lord, I hate this eternal picking! How did you come back,
Kate?"

"Dr. Gray brought me."

"I should think it would have made talk, your staying there with him,"
commented Mrs. Holt.

"Fortunately, the people of Hartley seem reasonably busy attending
their own affairs," said Kate. "Doctor Gray had been boarding at the
hotel all fall, so he just went on living there until after the
wedding."

George glared at his mother, but she avoided his eyes, and laughing in
a silly, half-confused manner she said: "How much money did your
father give the bride?"

"I can't tell you, in even dollars and cents," said Kate. "Nancy Ellen
didn't say."

Kate saw the movement of George's foot under the table, and knew that
he was trying to make his mother stop asking questions; so she began
talking to him about his work. As soon as the meal was finished he
walked with her to school, visiting until the session began. He
remained three days, and before he left he told Kate he loved her, and
asked her to be his wife. She looked at him in surprise and said:
"Why, I never thought of such a thing! How long have you been thinking
about it?"

"Since the first instant I saw you!" he declared with fervour.

"Hum! Matter of months," said Kate. "Well, when I have had that much
time, I will tell you what I think about it."

CHAPTER VIII

THE HISTORY OF A LEGHORN HAT

Kate finished her school in the spring, then went for a visit with
Nancy Ellen and Robert, before George Holt returned. She was thankful
to leave Walden without having seen him, for she had decided, without
giving the matter much thought, that he was not the man she wanted to
marry. In her heart she regretted having previously contracted for the
Walden school another winter because she felt certain that with the
influence of Dr. Gray, she could now secure a position in Hartley that
would enable her eithe