how rich
he made you--and me!"

* * * * *

At breakfast, the next morning, he broke the news to his mother. Instead
of returning his serene and delighted look she kept her eyes on her plate
and was ominously silent. "When you are well acquainted with her, mother,
you'll love her," he said. He knew what she was thinking--Dr. Schulze's
"unorthodox" views, to put it gently; the notorious fact that his
daughters did not frown on them; the family's absolute lack of standing
from the point of view of reputable Saint X.

"Well," said his mother finally, and without looking at her big, handsome
son, "I suppose you're set on it."

"Set--that's precisely the word," replied Arthur. "We're only waiting for
your consent and her father's."

"_I_ ain't got anything to do with it," said she, with a pathetic
attempt at a smile. "Nor the old doctor, either, judging by the look of
the young lady's eyes and chin. I never thought you'd take to a
strong-minded woman."

"You wouldn't have her _weak_-minded, would you, mother?"

"There's something between."

"Yes," said he. "There's the woman whose mind is weak when it ought to be
strong, and strong when it ought to be weak. I decided for one like you,
mother dear--one that would cure me of foolishness and keep me cured."

"A female doctor!"

Arthur laughed. "And she's going to practice, mother. We shouldn't
have enough to live on with only what I'd make--or am likely to make
anyway soon."

Mrs. Ranger lifted her drooping head in sudden panic.

"Why, you'll live _here_, won't you?"

"Of course," replied Arthur, though, as a matter of fact, he hadn't
thought where they would live. He hastened to add, "Only we've got to
pay board."

"I guess we won't quarrel about that," said the old woman, so immensely
relieved that she was almost resigned to the prospect of a Schulze, a
strong-minded Schulze and a practicing female doctor, as a
daughter-in-law.

"Madelene is coming up to see you this morning," continued Arthur. "I
know you'll make her--welcome." This wistfully, for he was now awake to
the prejudices his mother must be fighting.

"I'll have the horses hitched up, and go and see her," said Ellen,
promptly. "She's a good girl. Nobody could ever say a word against her
character, and that's the main thing." She began to contrast Madelene and
Janet, and the situation brightened. At least, she was getting a
daughter-in-law whom she could feel at e