w dropping open in amaze. "Let me
have it!" demanded Lizzie's mother, reaching for the book.

"Where's yer note, Lizzie, mebbe it'll explain," said the excited
Grandmother.

Lizzie recovered the note which again had fluttered to the floor in the
confusion and opening it began to read:

"_Dear Lizzie_," it read

"I've made it five thousand so you will have some over for
furnishing your home, and if you still think you want the little
bungalow out on the Pike you will find the deed at my lawyer's,
all made out in your name. It's my wedding gift to you, so you
can go to work and buy your furniture at once, and not wait till
Dan gets a raise. And here's wishing you a great deal of
happiness,

"Your loving cousin,
ELIZABETH."

"There!" said Grandmother Brady sitting back with satisfaction and holding
her hands composedly, "Whadd' I tell ya?"

"Mercy!" said Lizzie's mother, "Let me see that note! The idea of her
_giving_ all that money when she didn't have to!"

But Lizzie's face was a picture of joy. For once she lost her hard little
worldly screwed-up expression and was wreathed in smiles of genuine
eagerness:

"Oh _Boy_!" she exclaimed delightedly, dancing around the room, "Now we
can have a victrola, an' a player-piano, and Dan'll get a Ford, one o'
those limousine-kind! Won't I be some swell? What'll the girls at the
store think now?"

"H'm! You'd much better get a washing machine and a 'lectric iron!"
grumbled Grandmother Brady practically.

"Well, all I got to say about it is, she was an awful fool to trust _you_
with so much money," said Lizzie's mother discontentedly, albeit with a
pleased pride as she watched her giddy daughter fling on hat and coat to
go down and tell Dan.

"I sh'll work in the store fer the rest of the week, jest to 'commodate
'em," she announced putting her head back in the door as she went out,
"but not a day longer. I got a lot t'do. Say, won't I be some lady in the
five-an'-ten the rest o' the week? Oh _Boy! I'll tell the world!_"

Meantime in their own private car the bride and groom were whirled on
their way to the west, but they saw little of the scenery, being engaged
in the all-absorbing story of each other's lives since they had parted.

And one bright morning, they stepped down from the train at Malta and
gazed about them.

The sun was shining clear and wonderful, and the