'd want. She made no professions of
altruism--admitted she was fussy about whom she rented her darling house
to, and that Rodney and his wife would be exactly right. Still, she
didn't believe he could do better. They'd have to have some sort of
place to live in, in the autumn. It would be such a mistake to buy a lot
of stuff in a hurry and find out later that they didn't want it! The
arrangement she proposed would leave him an idyllically untroubled
summer--nothing to fuss about, and provide ... Well, Rodney knew for
himself what the house was--complete down to the cork-screws.

Even the servant question was eliminated. "Ours are so good," Florence
said, "that the last time we rented the house, we put them in the lease.
I wouldn't do that with you, of course, but I know they'll be just what
you want." And six thousand dollars a year was simply dirt cheap.

To clinch the thing, Florence went around and saw Frederica about it.
And Frederica, after listening, non-committally, dashed off to the last
meeting of the Thursday Club (all this happened in June, just before the
wedding) and talked the matter over with Violet Williamson on the way
home, afterward.

"John said once," observed Violet, "that if he had to live in that
house, he'd either go out and buy a plush Morris chair from
feather-your-nest Saltzman's, and a golden oak sideboard, or else run
amuck."

Frederica grinned, but was sure it wouldn't affect Rodney that way.
He'd never notice that there _wasn't_ a golden oak sideboard with a
beveled mirror in it. As for Rose, she thought Rose would like it--for a
while, anyway. Of course it wasn't forever. But this wasn't the point.
It was something else she had to get an unprejudiced opinion on, "simply
because in this case my own isn't trustworthy. I'm so foolish about old
Roddy, that I can't be sure I haven't--well, caught being mad about Rose
from him. It all depends, you see, on whether Rose is going to be a hit
this winter or not. If she is, they'll want a place just like that and
it would be a shame for her to be bothered and unsettled when she might
have everything all oiled for her. But of course if she doesn't--go (and
it all depends on her; Rodney won't be much help)--why, having a house
like that might be pretty sad. So, if you're a true friend, you'll tell
me what you think."

"What I really think," said Violet, "--of course I suppose I'd say this
anyway, but I do honestly mean it--is that she'll be what