ile and a wave of her hand for good measure. I
was proud of her. The boy stood up and took off his hat. I could see
him blush a hundred feet away. Then his mother evidently asked him a
question, and he turned to answer her, and so EXIT Mr. Goward.

The end of our drive was even pleasanter than the beginning. Peggy was
much interested in a casual remark expressing my pleasure in hearing
that she had recently met the nephew of one of my very old friends,
Stillman Dane.

"Oh," she cried, "do you know HIM? Isn't that lovely?"

I admitted that he was a very good person to know, though I had only
seen a little of him, about six years ago. But his uncle, the one who
lately died and left a snug fortune to his favorite nephew, was one of
my old bachelor cronies, in fact, a member of the firm that published my
books. If the young man resembled his uncle he was all right. Did Peggy
like him?

"Why, yes," she answered. "He was a professor at our college, and all
the girls thought him a perfect dandy!"

"Dandy!" I exclaimed. "There was no sign of an excessive devotion to
dress when I knew him. It's a great pity!"

"Oh!" she cried, laughing, "I don't mean THAT. It is only a word we
girls use; it means the same as when you say, 'A VERY FINE FELLOW
INDEED."'

From that point we played the Stillman Dane tune, with variations, until
we reached home, very late indeed for supper. The domestic convulsion
caused by the formal announcement of Talbert's sudden decision had
passed, leaving visible traces. Maria was flushed, but triumphant; Alice
and Billy had an air of conscience-stricken importance; Charles Edward
and Lorraine were sarcastically submissive; Cyrus was resolutely jovial;
the only really tranquil one was Mrs. Talbert. Everything had been
arranged. The whole family were to go down to New York on Thursday to
stop at a hotel, and see the travellers off on Saturday morning--all
except Peggy, who was to remain at home and keep house.

"That suits me exactly," said I, "for business calls me to town
to-morrow, but I would like to come back here on Thursday and keep house
with Peggy, if she will let me."

She thanked me with a little smile, and so it was settled. Cyrus wanted
to know, when we were sitting in the arbor that night, if I did not
think he had done right. "Wonderfully," I said. He also wanted to know
if he might not give up that extra state-room and save a couple of
hundred dollars. I told him that he must stick to