asion on the part of his wife to keep him from
describing the whole affair in detail, how abominably he had acted
about the check, and how badly he had made her feel. It would make his
abasement more complete and lasting in effect, he said, if some one
else were to know about it. Ross, like Arethusa, did nothing by halves.

Yet Miss Eliza unwittingly disappointed Elinor's eagerness to see
Arethusa, by announcing that Arethusa could not come until the fall. It
was far more of a disappointment to his wife than it was to Ross. Ross
was very happy with things just as they were.

Elinor made a room ready for the girl to be her very own, when doing
over the rest of her house; and she put into it all the love and little
personal touches that Arethusa's own mother might have given it.

"She might not be," she said, thoughtfully considering when selecting
the wall-paper, "a pink or blue person at all. Ross doesn't know the
color of her eyes or hair or anything that he ought to. He's been
woefully remiss as a parent. White might perhaps be safest."

Which choice was surely most fortunate.

So white with a silky, silvery stripe was chosen for the walls of the
big, sunny room with its rows of windows on two sides which had been
set aside as Arethusa's. It was a white ground with garlands of flowers
in soft pastel shades near the ceiling. And green, a soft, dull green,
was chosen for the side curtains of those sunny windows, and for the
sofa cushions and the upholstery on the window seats and the "squshy"
chairs. The largest pieces of furniture were of a satiny brown walnut
combined with cane. There was a green rug, the color of the moss in
Arethusa's own beloved woods and so soft and thick that her feet would
sink deep into it, for the floor. Then Elinor put a long, soft sofa at
the foot of the bed, and Arethusa's room was ready for her coming.

The bath-room adjoining, which was also to belong to the daughter of
the house, was white, shiny tile from floor to ceiling, and it
contained every conceivable device known to the mind of a modern
plumber that makes for comfort in a bath-room. Could Elinor have but
glimpsed the high-backed tin tub in which Arethusa had bathed all of
her life at the Farm!

"You've done too much," was Ross's comment, when Elinor showed him this
nest, "and spent a fortune besides, on my child. When...."

"Our child," interrupted Elinor gently, "I thought we had settled that
once for all. Please, Ross,