h
Shore with friends. Bertram, true to his promise, was playing the
gallant to Billy's guests; and so assiduous was he in his attentions
that Billy at last remonstrated with him.

"But I didn't mean them to take ALL your time," she protested.

"Don't they like it? Do they see too much of me?" he demanded.

"No, no! They love it, of course. You must know that. Nobody else could
give such beautiful times as you've given us. But it's yourself I'm
thinking of. You're giving up all your time. Besides, I didn't mean to
keep you here all summer, of course. You always go away some, you know,
for a vacation."

"But I'm having a vacation here, doing this," laughed Bertram. "I'm sure
I'm getting sea air down to the beaches and mountain air out to the
Blue Hills. And as for excitement--if you can find anything more wildly
exciting than it was yesterday when Miss Marie and I took the widow
and the spinster lady on the Roller-coaster--just show it to me; that's
all!"

Billy laughed.

"They told me about it--Marie in particular. She said you were lovely to
them, and let them do every single thing they wanted to; and that half
an hour after they got there they were like two children let out of
school. Dear me, I wish I'd gone. I never stay at home that I don't miss
something," she finished regretfully.

Bertram shrugged his shoulders.

"If it's Roller-coasters and Chute-the-chutes that you want, I fancy
you'll get enough before the week is out," he sighed laughingly. "They
said they'd like to go there to-morrow, please, when I asked them what
we should do next. What surprises me is that they like such things--such
hair-raising things. When I first saw them, black-gowned and
stiff-backed, sitting in your little room here, I thought I should never
dare offer them anything more wildly exciting than a church service or
a lecture on psychology, with perhaps a band concert hinted at, provided
the band could be properly instructed beforehand as to tempo and
selections. But now--really, Billy, why do you suppose they have taken
such a fancy to these kiddish stunts--those two staid women?"

Billy laughed, but her eyes softened.

"I don't know unless it's because all their lives they've been tied
to such dead monotony that just the exhilaration of motion is bliss to
them. But you won't always have to risk your neck and your temper in
this fashion, Bertram. Next week my little couple from South Boston
comes. She adores pictures and s