-five at
best must pay homage to twenty! Her youthful figure was disguised but
not hidden by the quaint gown of white Georgette crepe and lace,
relieved from its monotone by a soft, moon-blue satin girdle,
embroidered with roses and leaves in pastel shades. The wide-brimmed hat
of the same crepe, its crown of blue satin banded with flowers, the
dainty parasol, and the white kid colonials completed a becoming
costume. Huntington concluded that his slipper, so carefully preserved
at home, was as antique a souvenir as himself! "Shall we walk?" she
asked; he would have liked nothing better than to parade up and down
forever before every one he knew with this splendid young creature
beside him, exhaling all that glowing health and youth could add to the
natural charms which were her birthright! Particularly was he unable to
resist giving Cosden a look of triumph as they passed by him at the
steps.

"Room for one more in your party?" Cosden asked, rising impulsively.

"Full house, Connie," was the uncompromising response. "We're off on a
missionary trip, and you wouldn't be interested."

To Merry herself this was an adventure as pleasing as it was unusual.
Huntington had made a deep impression upon her on that one occasion to
which she so often referred. In her quiet, tense way the girl was a
hero-worshiper, and in that single moment Huntington had qualified for
the hero's crown. That he should have selected her as his companion for
this afternoon was enough to set her cheeks aglow and to make her eyes
sparkle with girlish anticipation.

"I'm afraid my nephew Billy has been imposing on your good-nature, these
days," he began.

"Billy?" she laughed. "Not a bit of it! Billy is the best fun ever. I
never saw such an irrepressible boy; he's just like a big St. Bernard
pup!"

Huntington decided to remember this for later use in time of need.

"I suppose we old-stagers forget how youthful we were at his age, but
sometimes it seems to me as if Billy would never grow up."

"Oh, he's all right, Mr. Huntington," Merry reassured him. "My brother
Phil is older, but every now and then he breaks out just the same. I
think they're lots of fun. It's only when they become serious that I
feel worried about them."

"Billy isn't often guilty of that," was Huntington's comment. "When he
and I are alone I don't mind having him bubble over. It keeps me young,
so I rather like it; but down here it seemed as if he was getting in
every one