t did you say to him, Don?" she panted.

"I told him I wished to marry you to-morrow," he answered.

"And he--"

"He said I shouldn't. He said he could give you more with his ten
thousand than I could give you with my twelve hundred. I told him I
could give you more with my twelve hundred than he could with his ten
thousand."

"I've never seen him so angry," she trembled.

"I'd never before seen him angry at all," he admitted. "But, after
all, that isn't important, is it? The important thing is whether or
not he's right. That's what you and I must decide for ourselves."

She did not quite understand. She thought her father had already
decided this question. However, she said nothing. In something of a
daze, she allowed herself to be led on toward the park--at night a
big, shadowy region with a star-pricked sky overhead. Like one led in
a dream she went, her thoughts quite confused, but with the firm grip
of his hand upon her arm steadying her. He did not speak again until
the paved street and the stone buildings were behind them--until they
were among the trees and low bushes and gravel paths. He led her to a
bench.

"See those stars?" he asked, pointing.

"Yes, Don."

"I want you to keep looking at them while I'm talking to you," he
said.

Just beyond the Big Dipper he saw the star he had given Sally
Winthrop. It smiled reassuringly at him.

"What I've learned this summer," he said, "is that, after all, the
clear sky and those stars are as much a part of New York as the
streets and high buildings below them. And when you live up there a
little while you forget about the twelve hundred or the ten thousand.
Those details don't count up there. Do you see that?"

"Yes, Don."

"The trouble with your father, and the trouble with you, and the
trouble with me, until a little while ago, is that we didn't get out
here in the park enough where the stars can be seen. I'm pretty sure,
if I'd been sitting here with your father, he'd have felt different."

She was doing as he bade her and keeping her eyes raised. She saw the
steady stars and the twinkling stars and the vast purple depths. So,
when she felt his arm about her, that did not seem strange.

"It's up there we'll be living most of the time," he was saying.

"Yes, Don."

"And that's all free. The poorer you are, the freer it is. That's true
of a lot of things. You've no idea the things you can get here in New
York if you haven't too much money. Your fa