sunny, but with late dawns and early twilights. Rodney Parker's college friend having delayed his promised visit, the agitating question of the Friday Fo

she was in a particularly amiable mood; Sally, perhap

tting to church in all weathers! And while Pa doesn't care much about having you so intimate with the Hawkeses, he was saying this m

one in Monroe will run in to wish her many happy returns. Tom David's wife will come in fr

e tribe stream in, if I were seventy-eight!" Martie observed.

ses, and buttoned on their winter coats. Any excitement added to her present ecstatic mood was enough to give Martie the bloom of a wild rose, and Sally had her own reasons for radiance. Lydia alone, walking be

h had not been painted in the memory of man, was a yawning barn which had never been painted at all. In the yard were various odds and ends of broken machinery and old harness; a wagon-seat, on which Grandma someti

itality and good cheer. From every one of the bare high windows raw gushes of light tunnelled the gloom outside, and althou

onroe sisters were instantly made a part of the celebration. Hilarious members of the family and their even more hilarious friends welcomed them in; the bare hallway was swar

ishman, quite in his glory to-night. Throned on a sort of dais, in the front bay window, was Grandma Kelly, a little shrivelled beaming old woman, in a crumpled, shining, black satin gown. Her hair was scanty, showing a wide bald parting, and to hear in all the confusion she was obliged occasionally to cup one hand behind her ear, but her snapping eyes were as bright as a monkey's a

ey had known fire and flood and famine, crude offense and cruder punishment; they had seen the Indians and the buffalo go with the Missions and the sheep; they had followed the gold through its sensational rise to its sen

ds were towns. At seventy-eight, Grandma Kelly was far from ready for her nunc dimittis. Great days had been, no doubt, but great days we

at of the late Mr. Kelly having attached to its frame the sheaf of wheat that had lain on his coffin. On the walls also were the large calendars of insurance companies, and one or two china plaques in plush frames. A bead portiere hung between the two parlours, constantly clicking a

dragged upstairs, where they left hats and coats, were taken downstairs again with affectionate, girlish arms about their waists; and found themselves laughing an

d to a chair against the wall, where matrons greeted her eagerly and where, in her

the five old ladies. Wasn't that a cute idea? Ellen said they looked perfectly dear, all together! Mary Clute couldn't get here from San Francisco, you know, but she sent Grandma a tea-pot cover-the cutest thing! Did you s

h him, and happily joined the working forces in the kitchen. In her mind Sally knew that the Hawkeses were but homely folk; she knew that any Monroe should shrink from this hot and noisy kit

glasses. Ellen and Grace, as the family debutantes, were inside with the company, but Carrie and Min, the married daughters, were here, with old Mrs. Crowley, who never

ys and girls could keep their mouths full of oily, nutty, walnut wafers and broken bits of layer cake without any conscientious scruples. One of the large kitchen tables was entirely covered with plates bearing layer cakes, with chocolate, maple, shining

the less gay. Grace had a long streamer of what appeared to be green window-net tied loosely about a worn pink satin slip; Elsa Prout wore the shepherdess costume she had made for the Elks' Hallowe'en Dance, and Mrs. Cazley, sitting with her back against the wall, wore her widow's bonnet with its limp little veil falling down

eve Me" charmingly, putting real power and pathos into the immortal words. Returning, flushed and happy in a storm of clapping, to her place between Al Lunt and Art Carter on the sofa, she kept those appreciative youths in such convulsions of laughter that their entire neighbourhood was sympathetically affected. Carl Polhemus, who played the organ at church, had begun a wandering improvisation on the piano, evidently so taken with ce

where many of these hilarious youngsters had drawn their first breath. Although the infatuated musician di

cally cleared for dancing. The air, close already, became absolutely insufferable now; the men's collars wilted, the girls'

shadowy steps with-he narrowed his eyes to make sure-yes, with little Sally Monroe. The old man formed his lips into a

tting irresolute with

as Sally's gown did no

"I see ye, and Joe Hawkes,

wly into the clear

thick voice and with a perceptible gulp. Even i

nds on fat knees. Sally, innocent, lo

, Sally?" said t

hy, I don't know, Doc, Ben," she faltered.

eh?" Dr. Ben repeated m

unhappy, I suppose," Sally said in her mild, prim voice, with an eff

iate answer, observing in a dissatisfied tone, afte

bby cushions of the carriage,

was still troubled and overcast. Sally wondered uncomfortably if he would tell her mother that she was seeing Joe frequently. As it chanced, she and Joe had more than once encountered the old man on

id," she submitted timidly, "and

ut she was puzzled and unhappy. "Well," said the doctor suddenly, gathering up his reins and rattling the whip in its socket as a

would have put out her tongue for his inspe

ht; a few months ago she had been merely amused and flattered by the boy's crudely expressed preference; even now she knew that for a Monroe girl, at twenty-one, to waste a thought on a Hawkes boy of nineteen was utter madness. But a week or two ago, walking home from church with her mother and herself on Sund

ir hearts beat together. Sally's arms were bent against the boy's big chest, as

ed up and down the long stretch of the table in the dining room. The dancers and all the other guests filed out to enjoy the supper, the room rang with laughter and screamed witticisms. A popular feature of the entertainment was the mottoes, flat scalloped candies of pink and white sugar, whose p

joy came to her eyes when the young voices all rose with lingering enjoyment on "Silver Threads Among the Gold," and there was a general wiping of eyes at "She's a Jolly Good Fell

he Monroes, had paid Grandma the compliment of going. Sally, hanging on Lydia's arm, was silent. Martie, on her other arm, was smilingly reminiscent. "That Al Lunt was a caution," she observed. "Wasn't Laura Carter's dance music good? Wasn't that maple walnut cake delicious?" She

rightening them with a deep "Boo!" before

e asked, adding care

ie said incredulously

" Len said. "Ho

til pretty late, Len," Lydi

brought you girls home from Hawkes's-go on! L

w can I?" Ly

and those boobs and roughnecks, so I went down town for a while. Then I came back and wait

e-" Lydia sai

walked together in the da

ight. He was down town, and he as

poke carelessly, b

on Len, "he's going to call you

trying to enlist her silence in his cause should their father make a general inquiry, and philosophical enough to turn his mood to her own advantage. "Lissun, Len," sa

eartily. He and his sister pe

e-Joe, and Martie to shifting happy thoughts of the evening and its little triumphs, thought

to-night in thinking that Len's breath was strong from something alcoholic, that Len's eager, loose-lipped speech, his unusual manner-She went over and over the words she would use in telling her mother