lteacher dreamily trying to clean some
molasses off his boots with the kitchen hairbrush. Long-suffering Miss
Cornelia rescued her property and despatched Mr. Palmer into the
woodshed to find the shoe-brush. Then she sat down and laughed.

"Hannah, what will become of that boy yet? There's no counting on what
he'll do next. I don't know how he'll ever get through the world, I'm
sure, but I'll look after him while he's here at least. I owe him a
huge debt of gratitude for this Christmas blunder. What an awful mess
this place is in! But, Hannah, did you ever in the world see anything
so delightful as that little Tommy Smithson stuffing himself with plum
cake, not to mention Teddy Grant? It did me good just to see them."

A Strayed Allegiance

"Will you go to the Cove with me this afternoon?"

It was Marian Lesley who asked the question.

Esterbrook Elliott unpinned with a masterful touch the delicate
cluster of Noisette rosebuds she wore at her throat and transferred
them to his buttonhole as he answered courteously: "Certainly. My
time, as you know, is entirely at your disposal."

They were standing in the garden under the creamy bloom of drooping
acacia trees. One long plume of blossoms touched lightly the soft,
golden-brown coils of the girl's hair and cast a wavering shadow over
the beautiful, flower-like face beneath it.

Esterbrook Elliott, standing before her, thought proudly that he had
never seen a woman who might compare with her. In every detail she
satisfied his critical, fastidious taste. There was not a discordant
touch about her.

Esterbrook Elliott had always loved Marian Lesley--or thought he had.
They had grown up together from childhood. He was an only son and she
an only daughter. It had always been an understood thing between the
two families that the boy and girl should marry. But Marian's father
had decreed that no positive pledge should pass between them until
Marian was twenty-one.

Esterbrook accepted his mapped-out destiny and selected bride with the
conviction that he was an exceptionally lucky fellow. Out of all the
women in the world Marian was the very one whom he would have chosen
as mistress of his fine, old home. She had been his boyhood's ideal.
He believed that he loved her sincerely, but he was not too much in
love to be blind to the worldly advantages of his marriage with his
cousin.

His father had died two years previously, leaving him wealthy and
independent. M