ld have incurred even my
much-dreaded father's wrath rather than risk a disagreement with Riley.
Actually, if he had disapproved, I question whether I should have dared
to marry you! Even now I can feel my old-time trembling coming on at the
thought of reproving him because he prevented you from overdoing. He
would consider me an ingrate for not recognizing that it was done in my
best interests, and I should positively lose caste."

Mrs. Gorham laughed in spite of her temporary chagrin in the face of
her husband's genuine discomfiture, which he tried to conceal by
the lightness of his words. She wondered at the extremes he
manifested--quiet but firm and immovable as the rock of Gibraltar in his
business dealings, unaggressive and yielding in all which had to do with
his home life. She hastened to withdraw her complaint.

"Don't worry about Riley," she laughed. "The next time I want to do
something of which he doesn't approve, I'll have it done before he
knows anything about it."

"You don't think I'm supporting Riley against you, do you?"

"No, indeed," Eleanor replied, smiling; "I understand your feelings
about him."

Gorham drew a sigh of relief. "I always want you to bring everything to
me, Eleanor--everything, no matter how slight, which worries you. You
will always do that, won't you?"

"Of course"; Mrs. Gorham looked up quickly.

"You always have, haven't you, dear?"

"Why, yes, Robert; do you doubt it?"

"Sometimes I have a feeling that there might have been something in
those sad years of yours which I could make lighter if you shared it
with me."

"You have made everything lighter and brighter," she replied,
gratefully, yet without directly answering his question.

V

Patricia would also have made complaints of Riley had she not considered
herself entirely competent to cope with the situation. The child's
disappointment at being left behind had made this a trying day for the
whole family, and Eleanor's delay in joining Alice and Allen for the
ride had been caused by her efforts to straighten matters out before
leaving Patricia alone for the afternoon with the declaration of open
warfare still in force between her and the old man. Nine times out of
ten, Patricia played the tune to which Riley danced, but this was the
tenth, and an older understanding would have heeded the signals of the
approaching storm.

"I don't say she has more iv it than other childern," Riley explained to
Mrs. Gor