val, and
he hoped he might have the privilege of leading the grand march with her.
And, Mrs. Weatherbee having thanked him, with the pleasure dancing in her
eyes, Bailey pointed out the new city hospital, a tall, airy structure,
brave in fresh paint, which was equipped with a resident physician and
three trained nurses, including Miss Purdy, the milliner's sister, who was
on her way from Washington to join the force.

After that they motored through the residence district, and Mrs.
Weatherbee expressed greater wonder and delight at the rows of thrifty
homes, each with its breadth of green lawn and budding shrubbery, where
hardly six months ago had been unreclaimed acres of sage. And so, at last,
they came to the city park, where the road wound smooth and firm between
broad stretches of velvety green, broken by beds of blossoming tulips,
nodding daffodils, clumps of landscape foliage putting forth new leaves.
Sprinklers, supplied by a limpid canal that followed the drive, played
here, there, everywhere, and under all this moisture and the warm rays of
the spring sun, the light soil teemed with awakening life. Then, finally,
the car skirted a low, broad mound, in which was set the source of the
viaduct, a basin of masonry, brimming with water crystal clear and fed by
two streams that gushed from a pedestal of stone on the farther rim. "How
beautiful!" she exclaimed. "How incredible! And there is to be a statue to
complete it. A faun, a water nymph, some figure to symbolize the spirit of
the place."

"I can't tell you much about the statue," replied Bailey, watching the
curve ahead. "Mr. Banks engaged the sculptor; some noted man in the east.
He is carrying the responsibility; it was his idea. But it was to have
been in place, ready to be unveiled by the fifteenth, and there was some
delay."

After that, the mayor was silent, devoting his attention to the speeding
car. They left the park and, taking the river road, arrived presently at
the bungalow. The shingles still lacked staining, the roof was incomplete,
but a sprinkler threw rainbow mist over the new lawn, which was beginning
to show shades of green. A creeper, planted at the corner of the veranda,
already sent out pale, crinkled shoots.

Lucky Banks came beaming down the steps, and Annabel, in a crisp frock of
royal blue taffeta, stood smiling a welcome as the automobile stopped.
Then Bailey, springing down to throw open the door of the tonneau, lifted
his voice