o
with us."

"Patience, Mary. We are not ready to order outfits yet."

"Why not?"

"Because we do not want to buy what interested shopmen and milliners
may choose to palm off on us. You live such a domestic life that you
are scarcely better informed than I as to the latest modes. We will
drive in the park, use our eyes on the avenue, and visit several
fashionable establishments first. Then I wish to find a dressmaker who
is not an idiotic slave of fashion, and who can modify the prevailing
styles by taste and appreciation of the person for whom she works. The
one whom I employ must make dresses for me and under my direction, and
not dresses in the abstract, as if they were for the iron-framed form
on which she exhibits her wares."

"Good!" cried Mr. Muir; "Madge's head is level. Let her have her own
way, Mary, and she will come out all right."

"Well," said Mrs. Muir, "I suppose it will take a little time for me
to get used to all these changes. Before she went away I used to
do everything for her. I'm going to have my own way in one thing,
however. You must not write to Graydon a word beyond the fact that
Madge is here. You have both laughed at me and my wonder, and
I'm going to have the compensation of seeing him transformed into
exclamation points."

Madge now turned toward Mr. Muir, and he could detect not the
slightest indication of embarrassment or overconsciousness, as
she said, "Certainly, Henry, you must not spoil this little bit of
prospective fun."

Madge did have her own way, and made her preparations with the quiet
decision and thoughtfulness which now characterized her actions.

The Waylands were frequent guests at Mr. Muir's home for a time, and
then departed to visit friends in the country.

Madge and her sister soon decided upon the Catskills as the place of
their summer sojourn. The choice of this region, so accessible from
the city, was pleasing to Mr. Muir.

"What are you reading?" he said, one evening, as he found Madge
surrounded by books and pamphlets.

"Reading up on the Catskills and their vicinity. A place is far more
interesting if you have associations with it, and I intend to be
versed in all the stories and legends of the region. In this I have a
little design upon you also. You look worn, Henry, and need rest and
change. You are too much devoted to business. I'm going to 'frivol,'
like the rest of the girls, in the evening--dance, and all that, you
know, but I shall try to