rated upon her plans, and when the hour came in
which she realized what she had lost and what Eileen had won, she
reached the decision to sell her home, go to the city, and study until
she knew whether she really could succeed at her chosen profession.

Then she would come back to the valley, buy the spot she coveted, build
the house of which she dreamed, and in it she would spend the remainder
of her life making homes for the women who knew how to hold the love
of men. When she reached the city she had decided that if one could not
have the best in life, one must be content with the next best, and for
her the next best would be homes for other people, since she might not
materialize the home she had dreamed for John Gilman and herself. She
had not wanted to leave the valley. She had not wanted to lose John
Gilman. She had not wanted to part with the home she had been reared in.
Yet all of these things seemed to have been forced upon her. All Marian
knew to do was to square her shoulders, take a deep breath, put regrets
behind her, and move steadily toward the best future she could devise
for herself.

She carried letters of introduction to the San Francisco architects,
Nicholson and Snow, who had offered a prize for the best house that
could be built in a reasonable time for fifteen thousand dollars. She
meant to offer her plans in this competition. Through friends she had
secured a comfortable place in which to live and work. She need undergo
no hardships in searching for a home, in clothing herself, in paying for
instruction in the course in architecture she meant to pursue.

Concerning Linda she could not resist a feeling of exultation. Linda
was one of the friends in Lilac Valley about whom Marian could think
wholeheartedly and lovingly. Sometimes she had been on the point of
making a suggestion to Linda, and then she had contented herself with
waiting in the thought that very soon there must come to the girl a
proper sense of her position and her rights. The experience of the
previous night taught Marian that Linda had arrived. She would no longer
be the compliant little sister who would run Eileen's errands, wait upon
her guests and wear disreputable clothing. When Linda reached a point
where she was capable of the performance of the previous night, Marian
knew that she would proceed to live up to her blue china in every
ramification of life. She did not know exactly how Linda would follow up
the assertion of h