a taxicab they were as talkative as a pair
of magpies.

Of course, they had to know all about the holdup, and his manner of
telling the story made them feel that they had played an important part
in it. Arrived at the hotel, he swept them along with him so swiftly
that they had no time in which to become dismayed or self-conscious,
and finally he deposited them in their rooms quite out of breath and
quite delighted. He left them palpitating with excitement at the
wonders he proposed unfolding for them on the morrow.

Allie answered his phone call about eight o'clock the next morning.

"Ready for breakfast?" he inquired.

"Why, we et at daylight," she told him, in some astonishment. "I been
ridin' since then."

"Indeed! Putting roses in your cheeks, eh? With whom did you go?"

"Oh, one of the elevator men."

"B--but--" Gray sputtered, deeply shocked. "Why, Miss Briskow, they're
_negroes!_ Riding with a nigger! My heavens! Where did you go?"

"Nowhere. Just up and down."

It was a moment before the man could speak, then he said, in a queerly
repressed voice: "That--is quite different. I'll run down and get a
bite and join you in no time."

"Seems awful funny not to have any housework to do in the morning," Ma
Briskow confessed, as they left the Ajax. "A hotel would spoil me in no
time."

"I couldn't keep her from makin' up the beds," Allie announced.

Gray took the elder woman's hand in his and scolded her gently.
Smilingly, he lectured her on the art of doing nothing, and voiced some
elemental truths about living.

"Mr. Briskow has but one idea, and that is to surround you two, and
Buddy, with the advantages and luxuries you have been denied," he
reminded her. "You owe it to him to get the most out of your money, and
you mustn't begin by making hotel beds and robbing some poor woman of
her livelihood. Not one person in ten really knows how to live, for it
isn't an easy task, and the saddest thing about the newly rich is that
they won't learn. They refuse to enjoy their wealth. I propose to help
you good people get started, if you'll permit me. It is not with
contrition, but with pride, that I recommend myself to you as one of
the greatest living authorities upon extravagance, idleness, and the
minor vices of the prosperous."

The mother nodded, a bit vaguely. "That's kind of like Pa talks. He
sent you this, and says to tell you it's our first spendin' spree and
act accordin'." From her pocket she drew a