way to borrow trouble. If her husband was moved to be hospitable, she
ought to be wholly glad, not petty enough to resent it. She would put
such thoughts out of her mind, indeed she would, and welcome Rose as
she would have wanted Norah to have welcomed Bill, had the circumstances
been reversed. It would be lovely to have the girl about--she would be
so much company, and the atmosphere of light-hearted youth which she
would bring with her would be just what Billy needed. By the time
Rose's answer came, saying she would arrive in two weeks, her aunt was
genuinely enthusiastic.

"I wonder," said Martin, "if we could build on an extra room by then.
If she's going to make this her home, she can't be crowded as if she was
just here for a short visit. I'll hunt up Fletcher this afternoon."

Mrs. Wade's lips shut tight, as she grappled with an altogether new
kind of jealousy. To think that Martin should delight in giving to an
outsider a pleasure he had persistently denied his own son. How often
had she pleaded: "It's a shame to make Billy sleep in the parlor! A
boy ought to have one spot to himself where he can keep his own little
treasures." But always she had been met with a plausible excuse or a
direct refusal. "I suppose I ought to be thankful someone can strike an
unselfish chord in him," she thought, wearily.

"You'll have to get some furniture," Martin continued placidly.
"Mahogany's the thing nowadays."

"It's fearfully expensive," she murmured.

"Oh, I don't know. Might as well get something good while we're buying.
And while you're at it, pick out some of those curtains that have
flowers and birds on 'em and a pretty rug or two. I'll have Fletcher put
down hard oak flooring; and I guess it won't make much more of a mess if
we go ahead and connect up the house with the rest of the Delco system."

"It's about time," put in Bill, who had been listening round-eyed, until
now actually more than half believing his father to be in cynical jest.
"We're known all over the county as the place that has electric lights
in the barns and lamps in the house."

"It hasn't been convenient to do it before," was the crisp answer.

Bill and his mother exchanged expressive glances. When was anything ever
convenient for Martin Wade unless he were to derive a direct, personal
satisfaction from it! Then it became a horse of quite another color. He
could even become lavish; everything must be of the best; nothing else
would do; no