r eyes, and he stood away from her
like a tired traveler trying to shut out the song of the Lorelei!

"Birdie, I ain't got the right! I--I--you been used to so much. With you
it ain't like with most girls--your mamma and your papa they--"

Even as he spoke they were somehow in their first embrace, and round
their heads came crashing various castles in Spain, and they sat among
the ruins and smiled into each other's radiant eyes and whispered, with
their warm hands touching:

"I don't deserve such a prize as you, Birdie!"

"Such a scare as you gave me, Marcus! I thought first you
meant--you--meant it was me you didn't want."

He refuted the thought with a kiss.

"I ain't good enough for you, Birdie."

"I ain't good enough for you, Marcus."

"You can believe me, Birdie, when he told me to-day it was just like I
had died inside."

"It shows it don't pay to work too hard for such people, Marcus--they
don't appreciate it."

"I can get the same money as now at Lowen-Felsenthal's; they were after
me last year."

"You go, Marcus. You can work up with them; besides, I like the
ready-to-wear business better than boys' pants and neckwear."

"I wanted to start out with giving you more than you got already,
Birdie."

"Believe me, mamma and papa had no such start as we got. We can afford
maybe one of those three-rooms-and-bath apartments in Harlem--Flossie
Marks says they're just perfect; and mamma and papa lived right in back
of the factory--I remember it myself. Which is worse?"

"That's why I hate it for them, Birdie; your mamma wants you to have the
best like she didn't have--I hate it for her."

"You come to-morrow night, and we'll tell them. Just you do like I tell
you, and I can fix it."

He placed his hand against her forehead, tilted her head backward and
kissed her twice on the lips.

"You're my little Birdie, ain't you--a little birdie like flies in the
woods!"

The evening petered out and too soon waned to its finish. They parted
with thrice-told good-nights, reluctant to break the weft of their
enchantment. She closed the door after him and stood with her back
against it; her lips were curved in a perfect smile.

A door creaked, and footsteps padded down the hall.

"Birdie! Birdie!"

"Yes, mamma!" was all she said, going toward her parent and hiding her
pink face in the flannel folds of the maternal wrapper.

"God bless you, Birdie! Such happiness I should wish every mother. Go
in, baby, and