"It seems to me I have never done anything else," said Paul. She gave
him a keen glance over her lifted teaspoon; then she drank her coffee,
set the cup down, and said:

"Well! How is that combination of vaudeville and railway station and
zotrope that is known as New York?"

"Oh, the little old berg is all there," said Paul, lightly. But his
heart gave a sick throb. He hoped she would go on talking about it. But
it was some time before any one spoke, and then it was Alan Chisholm,
who took his pipe out of his mouth to say:

"Patricia hates New York."

"I can't imagine any one doing that," Paul said emphatically.

"Well, there was a time when I thought I couldn't live anywhere else,"
said Alan, good-naturedly; "but there's a lot of the pioneer in any
fellow, if he gives it a chance."

"Oh, I had a nice enough time in New York," said Patricia, lazily, "but
it just WEARS YOU OUT to live there; and what do you get out of it?
Now, HERE--well, one's equal to the situation here!"

"And then some," Paul said; and the brother and sister laughed at his
tone.

"But, honestly," said Miss Chisholm, "you take a little place like
Kirkwood, and you don't need a Socialist party. We all eat the same; we
all dress about the same; and certainly, if any one works hard here,
it's Alan, and not the mere hands. Why, last Christmas there wasn't a
person here who didn't have a present--even Willy Chow Tong! Every one
had all the turkey he could eat; every one a fire, and a warm bed, and
a lighted house. Mrs. Tolley gets only fifty dollars a month, and Monk
White gets fifty--doesn't he, Alan? But money doesn't make much
difference here. You know how the boys adore Monk for his voice; and as
for Mrs. Tolley, she's queen of the place! Now, how much of that's true
of New York!"

"Oh, well, put it that way--" Paul said, in the tone of an offended
child.

"Apropos of Mrs. Tolley's being queen of the place," said Alan to his
sister, "it seems she's rubbing it into poor little Mollie Peavy. Len
brought Mollie and the baby down from the ranch a week ago, and
nobody's been near 'em."

"Who said so?" flashed Miss Chisholm, reddening.

"Why, I saw Len to-night, sort of lurking round the power-house, and he
told me he had 'em in that little cottage, across the creek, where the
lumbermen used to live. Said Mollie was in agony because nobody came
near her."

"Oh, that makes me furious!" said Patricia, passionately. "I'll see
about it to-morro