ticeship by teaching school and writing
for the newspapers, and she begrudged spending further time in
subordinate work. Better on the whole a striking success on the stage
than this, for after she had made a name and money she could retire and
devote herself to more congenial undertakings. Nevertheless her
conscience told her that a theatrical career must be regarded as a last
resort, and she appreciated the importance of not making a hasty
decision as to what she would do. The lease of her house would not
expire for six months, and it seemed to her probable that even in New
York, where she was not understood, someone would realize her value as a
manager of some intellectual or literary movement and make overtures to
her. She wrote to Mrs. Earle and received a cordial response declaring
that Benham would welcome her with open arms, a complimentary though
somewhat vague certificate. She sent a line also to Mr. Dennison,
informing him that she hoped soon to submit some short stories for his
magazine, and received a guarded but polite reply to the effect that he
would be glad to read her manuscripts.

While she was thus deliberating and winding up her husband's affairs,
Mr. Parsons, who had been absent from New York at the time of Wilbur's
decease, called and bluntly made the announcement that he had bought a
house in Benham, was to move there immediately, and was desirous that
she should live with him as his companion and housekeeper on liberal
pecuniary terms.

"I am an old man," he said, "and my health is not what it used to be. I
need someone to look after me and to keep me company. I like your chatty
ways, and, if I have someone smart and brisk around like you, I sha'n't
be thinking so often that I'm all alone in the world. It'll be dull for
you, I guess; but you'll be keeping quiet for the present wherever you
are; and when the time comes that you wish to take notice again I won't
stand in the way of your amusing yourself."

To this homely plea Selma returned a beatific smile. It struck her as an
ideal arrangement; a golden opportunity for him, and convenient and
promising for her. In the first place she was accorded the mission of
cheering and guarding the declining years of this fine old man, whom she
had come to look on with esteem and liking. And at the same time as his
companion--the virtual mistress of his house, for she knew perfectly
well that as a genuine American he was not offering her a position less