HIGH ENOUGH
 
 OSCAR W. BRUNS
 
 
 '
 
 RICH ENOUGH
 
 BETTY IN HER GARDEN.
 
 RICH ENOUGH 
 
 BY 
 
 LEIGH WEBSTER 
 
 AUTHOR OF "ANOTHER GIRL'S EXPERIENCE 1 
 
 " Poor and content is rich, and rich enough " 
 
 OTHELLO 
 
 ^Illustrates 
 
 BY ELIZABETH S. PITMAN 
 
 BOSTON 
 
 ROBERTS BROTHERS 
 1897
 
 Copyright, 1897, 
 BY ROBERTS BROTHERS. 
 
 JOHN WILSON AND SON, CAMBRIDGE, U.S.A.
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 PAGE 
 BETTY IN HER GARDEN Frontispiece 
 
 " AUNT CORNELIA, OF ALL PEOPLE !".... 42 
 
 THE SQUARE 85 
 
 WlLL, COMFORTABLY SETTLED BEFORE THE FlRE . 143 
 
 "CAN YOU BE READY?" 239 
 
 2138953
 
 RICH ENOUGH. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 IT was after five o'clock on a November after- 
 noon, and in the upper part of the city the 
 home lights were already sending out a welcome 
 to the workers for whom business hours were over. 
 
 From one of the houses on Peabody Street a 
 stream of light came through the half-shut cur- 
 tains, making a cheerful radiance on the pavement 
 below. In an attractively furnished room within, 
 four young people were clustered about the chim- 
 ney place, where a wood fire was blazing on the 
 andirons. 
 
 Evidently it was a special occasion with them, 
 for they were all in full evening dress, and there 
 was a festive array of candles about the room. 
 Auburn-haired Betty was in danger of seriously 
 crumpling her pretty white gown, for she had 
 dropped down on a cushion by the fire close beside 
 her twin, Bob, who was comfortably settled on the 
 hearth-rug. Will, " the Magnificent," as he was
 
 6 RICH ENOUGH. 
 
 called in the bosom of his family, was leaning indo- 
 lently against the mantel-piece, and contemplating 
 the shining tips of his patent leather shoes, while 
 Marian, the elder sister, sat with the full glow of 
 the firelight on her fair hair. 
 
 There was a shade of anxiety in her gray eyes 
 just now, as she raised them to Will's handsome 
 face ; and he, becoming conscious of her gaze, roused 
 himself sufficiently to say, with a resigned air, 
 " Well, Marian, you said you wanted us to come 
 early to talk something over; you might as well 
 begin." 
 
 " Yes," said Bob, " fire ahead ! We are all 
 ready for some fun." 
 
 " I don't believe it 's anything nice," said Betty, 
 as Marian hesitated. " She has been looking like 
 an owl for two or three days, and that always 
 means something unpleasant. I know it 's about 
 money. I am so disappointed. I thought this 
 promised to be such a nice winter, now that I 'm 
 really coming out, and Bob 's a junior ; and papa 
 says that we must economize more than ever. 
 That means that where we have counted every 
 dime, we must count every penny. Every pair of 
 gloves will be a load on my conscience, and if I 
 have a carriage for a party, I shall feel like a crim- 
 inal. Oh, how I hate it ! " 
 
 Will laughed rather scornfully. " Parties ! 
 that 's all you think of. How do you suppose I
 
 RICH ENOUGH. 7 
 
 feel ? A man has all sorts of demands on him, 
 and it 's going to be years before I can earn a 
 cent myself." 
 
 " I don't see," said Bob, " but that I shall have 
 to give up college and support you, William. Let 
 me see, how much would do it ? One new neck-tie 
 per week, say fifty dollars. American Beauties, 
 how many dozen in the season ? " 
 
 " Oh, hush up," said his brother, impatiently, 
 " and mind your own affairs ! " 
 
 A little dig from Marian's toe caused the pro- 
 voking younger brother to subside, and Betty 
 diverted the attack by breaking out : 
 / " We are all one big sham, anyway. We try to 
 keep up with people who have a hundred times the 
 income that we have, and it is scrimp and worry 
 behind the scenes every minute. I'm tired of 
 it for one ! Let 's give it up, and go into the 
 backwoods somewhere, where there 's no such 
 thing as society, and no one ever heard of ' good 
 form.' " 
 
 " Just the place you 're suited to ! " said her 
 twin, looking up into her sparkling face with a 
 laugh ; but Marian bent forward eagerly. 
 
 " I 'm glad to hear you say that, Betty, We 
 really don't gain enough to pay for the struggle, 
 and I 've a plan to propose which I want to talk 
 over while the boys are here." 
 
 " Oh," groaned Betty, " now the blow is to fall !
 
 8 RICH ENOUGH. 
 
 Spare me, sister ! Let me be a careless, happy girl 
 one moment longer ; " and she held out her hands 
 with tragic entreaty to Marian. 
 
 " This is n't a charade, you theatrical goose," said 
 Bob. " Do let Marian come to the point ! " 
 
 But Marian seemed to find it difficult to come to 
 the point directly. " You know," she began, " that 
 our expenses are increasing every year, while our 
 income is not. Here are both Will and Bob pay- 
 ing for rooms at college ; yet our rent is just the 
 same as when they were at home. And somehow 
 our living expenses are not much less." 
 
 " That shows," said Bob, " where the delicate 
 appetites of the family are located." 
 
 " I never realized," Marian went on, ignoring the 
 interruption, " how hard it is for papa, until the 
 other night when I ,was going over last month's 
 bills with him. We are each one of us asking for 
 something all the time, and there are the house- 
 keeping bills and the extras which are always com- 
 ing up. Papa is straining every nerve to keep up 
 with it all, and no one to help him. If mamma 
 had lived," and Marian's voice quivered a little, " it 
 would have been different. But as it is, papa 
 thinks we ought to be free from care while we are 
 young ; and then he is so generous, he wants us to 
 have everything we fancy we need. So he just 
 struggles on. Oh, I'm ashamed that I've never 
 seen it before 1"
 
 EICH ENOUGH. 9 
 
 "Will broke the silence which followed this out- 
 burst. 
 
 " What is your plan, Marian ? " 
 
 " This is what I 've been thinking," she said, 
 looking at Betty, " that the best thing we could do 
 would be to give up the city and go back to the old 
 house. It would be an immense saving." 
 
 A low whistle from Bob, and from Betty, " Hor- 
 rors, Marian, we might as well be buried outright ! " 
 
 " Just what you wanted a minute ago," chuckled 
 her brother. Betty flashed an indignant look at 
 him. 
 
 " Southville ! " said Will, with a shrug of his 
 shoulders, as he walked away from the fire. " You 
 would n't see much of me out there ! " 
 
 " Why not ? " Marian's eyes were darkest gray 
 now. " It 's just a good walk from college, and you 
 would have a warm welcome. We should know it 
 was pure love of our society that brought you there." 
 
 Will colored, and said hastily, " Well, we 're 
 always coming into town, you know, and here it 's 
 easy to bring in some of the men now and then ; 
 but you 'd have to take me all alone out there." 
 
 " We could bear that ! Now let me tell you 
 what we should save. To begin with, we should n't 
 have any rent to pay. We could certainly sub-let 
 this house, it 's in such a good locality, perhaps 
 leave it partly furnished. Then we should only 
 need Ellen out there. Betty and I could do some
 
 10 RICH ENOUGH. 
 
 housework, and still have a great deal more time 
 for other things than we do here." 
 
 Marian was full of the plan, and as she enlarged 
 upon it her enthusiasm carried along her listeners 
 in spite of themselves. Betty's look of aversion 
 changed to one of alarm, and at last she inter- 
 rupted : " Oh, Marian, it 's dreadful of you to even 
 breathe such a thing, and here you talk as if it were 
 all settled ! I 'd rather economize in any other way. 
 We should never see a soul there, and should grow 
 just as countrified ! " 
 
 " Dear me ! to hear you talk, one would think 
 Southville was away off in a desert, instead of only 
 three miles out, with horse-cars all the way." 
 
 " Don't worry, little girl," put in Bob. " I 'm not 
 a swell, like Will, and I '11 bring you all the com- 
 pany you want." 
 
 " There ! Bob thinks as I do ! " said Marian. 
 
 " It 's easy enough for you to talk about giving 
 up the city, Marian," said her sister, with hot 
 cheeks and bright eyes. " You 've had your good 
 time, and don't seem to care about going out lately ; 
 but I 'm just beginning.'" 
 
 " I know it 's harder for you," said Marian, " but 
 I don't see why you need to be cut off from every- 
 thing, if we do move. You '11 be invited into the 
 city ever so much, I know ; and we '11 make over my 
 party gowns into dreams of beauty for you. Why, 
 we shall really have more money to spend."
 
 RICH ENOUGH. 11 
 
 " Has papa said anything about going to South- 
 ville ? " 
 
 " No, not a word." 
 
 " Then I know he won't approve of it in the 
 least," said Betty with conviction. " Just think 
 how hard it would make it for him ! Why, he 
 would have to take breakfast in the middle of the 
 night, to get to town in season." 
 
 '"The real question," put in Will, "is, How 
 will it affect your social standing ? " 
 
 " Oh, bother our social " 
 
 " Wait, Bob ! Betty, papa did speak two years 
 ago of our moving out to Southville, when he was 
 trying to find a new tenant, don't you remember ? 
 And we all scouted the idea. I am afraid I was 
 very inconsiderate." Marian ended with a sigh. 
 
 " Well, you 're a model of consideration now," 
 said Will, half admiringly, half regretfully. " You '11 
 be an old woman before your time, Marian." 
 
 " Do tell me what you really think about this 
 plan, Will." 
 
 " I don't see that I have much to do with it," he 
 responded coolly. " You and Betty are the ones it 
 will affect ; so I think you '11 have to fight it out 
 between you." 
 
 Marian looked disappointed. She had cherished 
 a faint hope that Will would propose to live at 
 home. It seemed as if he might, now that he was 
 no longer an under-graduate. She knew other law
 
 12 RICH ENOUGH. 
 
 students who managed it at a greater distance from 
 the university than he would be. But evidently 
 such an idea had not entered his mind, and she 
 turned to the younger brother with an appealing 
 look. " Bob, what do you think ? " 
 
 " I think you 're awfully sensible," he said 
 slowly ; then, rather irrelevantly, " I ought to have 
 gone into business instead of to college, and that 's 
 the truth ! " 
 
 " Oh, no ! " exclaimed both his sisters in shocked 
 voices, and Betty added fervently, " Mercy ! I 'd go 
 to Southville in a minute rather than have you do 
 that." 
 
 Will spoke quickly, as if somewhat nettled by 
 what his brother had said : " I should think you 'd 
 be better able to take care of yourself with an edu- 
 cation than without one." 
 
 " Yes," said Betty, always ready to do battle for 
 her twin ; " Will is the one to go into business, 
 if anybody. He already has an education, you 
 see!" 
 
 " Your idea of an education is rather limited," 
 answered Will, loftily. " It takes a good deal to 
 fit a man for the competition that there is nowa- 
 days, especially in law." 
 
 " Oh, well," said Betty, " don't let 's talk of this 
 hateful idea any more ! I shall have the blues now 
 for a week." 
 
 " We have n't on birthday expressions, exactly,"
 
 RICH ENOUGH. 13 
 
 and Marian looked around, laughing a little at the 
 solemn faces she saw. " There 's the latchkey, 
 now." And then there was a rush for the hall. 
 
 Mr. Kent's careworn face brightened as his 
 children surrounded him, even Will appearing in 
 the parlor door. " All here to-night ? Why, this 
 is nice." 
 
 " Happy birthday ! " said Betty, jumping up to 
 kiss him. 
 
 " Oh, what did you tell him for, you little sieve," 
 cried Marian. " You had forgotten that it 's .your 
 birthday, had n't you, papa ? " 
 
 No one looking in on them as they sat about the 
 table a little later would have imagined that a 
 cloud of care hung over them. The father, touched 
 by the little celebration in his honor, made a great 
 effort to throw off the weight of anxiety which that 
 day had seemed almost overwhelming, and the 
 young people, by a natural reaction, were unusually 
 gay. But Mr. Kent was subjected to many furtive, 
 searching glances, which he would riot in the least 
 have understood if he had noticed them, and his 
 children's hearts were very tender for him as they 
 noticed the new lines in his face, and how rapidly 
 his hair had been growing gray of late. 
 
 Betty thought with a little shock of pain that 
 she could never again call him her handsome 
 young father, and if Marian could have known all 
 the thought of her sister that evening, she would
 
 14 RICH ENOUGH. 
 
 > 
 
 not have said good-night to her with such a sense 
 of defeat. 
 
 Marian's brothers and her younger sister were 
 beginning to realize a change in her, a change 
 which they only half liked. Her three years in 
 society had been gay and absorbing, and Will had 
 been very proud of the pretty sister, who, by her 
 popularity, seemed to enhance his own attractions. 
 She had taken everything in a very lightheartcd 
 fashion, and had always been the leader in their 
 revels ; but now she was becoming conscious that 
 there are more important things in life than having 
 a good time. 
 
 A little experience in the early spring had per- 
 haps done more than anything else toward bringing 
 to the surface the undercurrent of dissatisfaction 
 which she dimly felt. She had been to a dance 
 which she particularly enjoyed. Will's chum, with 
 whom she always had " such fun," had been there, 
 and she was smiling to herself the next morning 
 over the recollection of their war of words, when 
 Will rushed in upon her in great excitement. 
 
 " Well, Marian, what do you think of Duncan's 
 latest development?" 
 
 " What do you mean ? " 
 
 " Oh, it 's no secret now ; he has told me all 
 about it." 
 
 " All about what ? " Marian asked rather im- 
 patiently.
 
 RICH ENOUGH. 15 
 
 " Why, his change of plans. Did n't he say any- 
 thing about it, all the time you were together last 
 night ? How queer ! " 
 
 " He 's coming back, is n't he ? " Marian asked 
 quickly. 
 
 " Yes ; but, " impressively, " he is going into the 
 theological school ! " 
 
 Marian uttered an exclamation of incredulity. 
 
 " It 's true ! I never was so surprised in all my 
 life. He 's the very last fellow I should have ex- 
 pected to turn serious, and I wouldn't believe it now 
 if I had n't heard it from his own lips. He 's tre- 
 mendously in earnest, too ; means to go right down 
 and live in the slums, you ought to hear him talk ! " 
 
 Marian had scarcely a word to say as her brother 
 dwelt upon his own amazement, Duncan's reasons, 
 and what the other fellows thought of it. That the 
 most versatile man of their class, the one who 
 made the best after-dinner speech, who sang the 
 best song, and who at the same time took a high 
 stand, should " chuck away " his chances of a bril- 
 liant career at the bar, and turn parson, was utterly 
 incomprehensible to most of them. 
 
 Marian sat motionless after her brother had left 
 her. To find that the man whom she had supposed 
 her friend had come to a decision that would 
 change his whole life, without having given her 
 the slightest intimation of it, gave her a feeling of 
 keen mortification.
 
 16 RICH ENOUGH. 
 
 Did he think her too frivolous to take any inter- 
 est in serious things, or to appreciate his motives ? 
 She thought back over the time since she first 
 knew him, and suddenly realized that their friend- 
 ship rested on the most flimsy of foundations, 
 certain tastes in common, that was all. Never 
 had they touched earnest ground, and the conviction 
 that it was her fault was irresistible. 
 
 " If I amused him, I was satisfied," she thought 
 bitterly. " I measured the success of a call by the 
 number of times I made him laugh, and all the 
 while I have considered him a little superficial ! 
 He must have thought me utterly so, or he would, 
 some time, have let out something of his real self. 
 This fits in well with the theory that a woman has 
 an ennobling influence on a man. No doubt my 
 influence has had something to do with this deci- 
 sion, it has been so inspiring and elevating ! " 
 
 Jack Duncan came once more to the house be- 
 fore commencement, and Marian could not help a 
 feeling of constraint, which she tried to conceal by 
 being unusually gay. He alluded to his change of 
 plans only in the most casual way, just as he was 
 taking his leave. 
 
 "I am afraid that after this, Miss Kent, our 
 paths will not cross very often. My work won't 
 take me into the haunts of society." 
 
 " Why not ? Are n't we worth saving ? " 
 
 He looked at her keenly for a moment, and then,
 
 RICH ENOUGH. IT 
 
 without any response, bade her good-by and went 
 away. 
 
 This season they had not met. Will reported 
 him as working tremendously, and added, " When- 
 ever I ask him to come over, he says he is too busy. 
 I sha'n't say anything more about it." 
 
 Marian was glad he did not come, for she knew 
 that she could not feel at ease with him. The 
 view that she had gained of herself did not please 
 her at all. Her life was selfish, unprofitable to 
 herself and everybody else. While longing for 
 something better, she had come into the knowledge 
 of her father's increasing anxieties in his unselfish 
 struggle to provide for his thoughtless children, and 
 in trying to help him she was developing the very 
 qualities which she thought she lacked.
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 SEVERAL days went by, and nothing more was 
 said of the new plan, Marian meanwhile be- 
 coming convinced that it was the best way out of 
 their difficulties. She had learned that there are 
 times for silence, and so waited for Betty to speak, 
 as she knew her younger sister would when she had 
 thought the matter out for herself. The birthday 
 consultation had brought out both sides of the 
 question, and Marian studied it continually. 
 
 One night she found it impossible to sleep. The 
 air of her room seemed stifling, and in her restless- 
 ness she opened the door and stepped into the hall. 
 To her surprise she found that her eyes were smart- 
 ing painfully, and when she reached the stairway a 
 strong smell of smoke greeted her. 
 
 She flew down stairs to meet a cloud of smoke 
 coming from the dining-room ; there were tongues 
 of flame darting through the door, arid with a terri- 
 fied scream she sprang to the fire alarm. It was 
 but a moment before the household was in commo- 
 tion. The servants tumbled down from the upper 
 floor and rushed about in everybody's way ; Mr. 
 Kent became lost in hunting for a hatchet ; Betty
 
 RICH ENOUGH. 19 
 
 appeared from her room, her eyes dazed with sleep, 
 and then, as soon as they were opened enough to 
 take in the situation, she as suddenly disappeared. 
 
 After the arrival of the fire department the ex- 
 citement subsided ; for, as the papers said next 
 morning, " What might have been a tragedy proved 
 only a trivial affair." 
 
 It seemed rather more than a " trivial affair " to 
 the Kent family, when by the early dawn they took 
 a survey of the ruin wrought by water and smoke. 
 The fire had been confined to the dining-room, but 
 the library was flooded with water, and the wall 
 between it and the dining-room scorched and soaked. 
 A hole in the ceiling showed where the fire had 
 begun to creep through to the room above. 
 
 Betty, with commendable presence of mind, had 
 spread out the blankets on the floor, emptied the 
 bureau drawers into them, and then added the con- 
 tents of the closets. "To think," said Marian, 
 afterwards, " that when there were rugs and silver 
 and so much more valuable things to save, you 
 should only have thought of clothes ! " 
 
 " You 're not logical," Betty retorted with spirit. 
 " We can live without rugs, but not without clothes." 
 
 Mr. Kent contemplated the wreck in despair. " It 
 is just about the last straw ! " he exclaimed. " How 
 we shall refurnish, I do not see." 
 
 " But the insurance," said Betty. 
 
 " Won't be a circumstance. The loss on the
 
 20 RICH ENOUGH. 
 
 house will be covered, but you can't get much satis- 
 faction for furniture and carpets that are smoked 
 and soaked. It would have been better for us if 
 things had been burned out clean. I must go down 
 town now. Don't touch the library or dining-room 
 until the insurance agent has been here." 
 
 Then, seeing how sober were the faces before him, 
 he added, " But don't be discouraged, girls ! There 
 will be some way out of it ; " and he tried to look 
 cheerful as he kissed them good-by. 
 
 Mr. Kent's depression returned the moment he 
 was outside of the door. Feeling already that it 
 would be almost impossible to get through the 
 winter, this unexpected demand which had come 
 upon him seemed indeed the fatal straw. " It is 
 hopeless," he thought to himself. " I have assumed 
 burdens I am not equal to. It was folly for a man 
 in my position to try to put two boys through col- 
 lege. We are an extravagant family. If their 
 mother had lived to teach the girls to be economi- 
 cal, it might have been different ; but how could I 
 deny them anything?" And he thought of his 
 pretty daughters witli a tender sigh. 
 
 " Oh, good morning, Mr. Blake. Yes, thank you, 
 we did get off very easily." 
 
 " I am afraid," going back to his thoughts again, 
 " Bob will have to leave college. Poor fellow ! it 
 will be a great disappointment to him, and the girls 
 too. But it must be unless " Ah, that "unless ! "
 
 RICH ENOUGH. 21 
 
 It haunted him all day. Every thought and plan 
 ended with that. Why not ? It would be perfectly 
 safe. Long after banking hours the cashier lin- 
 gered, thinking, thinking. He reviewed his life from 
 the time when he first met beautiful Alice Winthrop. 
 He was not exactly in the position to marry one of 
 the society belles, and support her as her father had 
 done, but she was ready to share his fortunes. Had 
 she not plenty of influential connections, who would 
 surely help him on ? He would be bank president 
 soon ; his investments would realize a fortune by the 
 time he was old enough to retire from business ; and 
 so they began their life together, with plenty of 
 courage. Now he looked back, a man past middle 
 life, still a cashier, still hoping that some time his 
 Western land would rise in value, still striving to 
 keep up with the family position. 
 
 Every one said what a fortunate thing it was for 
 the Kent girls that their mother had been of the 
 Winthrop family ! They could " go anywhere," and 
 had just as good a time as if their father were a 
 millionaire. But, oh, the struggle it had been to 
 send the daughters to the right schools, and fit the 
 boys for college under the best masters ; to give 
 them all the advantages of the girls and boys in 
 their circle ! 
 
 Now it must end. Bob must go into business, and 
 climb up for himself, unless It would be simply 
 borrowing, he reasoned ; this investment was a sure
 
 22 RICH ENOUGH. 
 
 thing. Why should he always stand aside and see 
 other men take the winnings ? All these years that 
 he had been cashier of the Second National he had 
 seen chance after chance go by. His salary had 
 been good, but he had never been able to save 
 enough to take advantage of any opportunity. Now 
 it was imperative that he should have money. A 
 few hundreds, even, would ease the pressure. A 
 few thousands would give him a new start in life. 
 The mere thought gave him a sense of relief. 
 
 Why should he not have one chance ? There were 
 those securities of Platt & Conway's, which would 
 not be looked at for months. He could easily raise 
 on them. No one would be surprised at his having 
 some few railroad bonds ; and then there was that 
 sure investment Blake had told him of ; there was 
 no doubt about it. Now was the time to buy ; it was 
 the chance of a lifetime ; and before the year was 
 half over he would be able to redeem the bonds and 
 restore them to their place. It would be simply 
 borrowing ; why should he not do it ? Why not ? 
 Mr. Kent brought his hand down upon his desk with 
 such force that the sound made him start, and 
 seemed to free him suddenly from a terrible spell. 
 Yes, why not! Because he had been the hus- 
 band of Alice Winthrop ! Because twenty years of 
 ideal married life should not be sullied by one dis- 
 honorable act ! If he could leave his children no 
 other legacy than that of a trusted name, no sacri-
 
 EICH ENOUGH. 23 
 
 fice should be too great for that. The outlook was 
 dark ahead, but it should make neither a coward 
 nor a thief of him. It was cowardly not to take his 
 children more into his confidence. He would spare 
 them all he could, but they must grow strong in 
 learning to meet trouble bravely. He winced at the 
 thought of poverty for those he loved so much, but 
 how small a thing it seemed when compared with 
 dishonor ! 
 
 The fit of madness was over, and as he walked 
 home that night he thanked God for the temptation 
 and the victory.
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 TV T EANWHILE, Mr. Kent's daughters had spent 
 1VJ. a busy day. 
 
 "Marian," Betty had said, before their father was 
 fairly out of the house, " let 's leave this muss, and 
 go to Southville. My heart turns to the old home- 
 stead." 
 
 " Do you mean it ? " cried Marian, joyfully, begin- 
 ning to think that the fire might prove a blessing 
 in disguise. " We '11 go this minute." 
 
 " But, understand, it does n't decide anything," 
 said Betty, quickly ; " only we '11 go out and take 
 a look." 
 
 " Of course not ! We could n't decide, any way, 
 without consulting papa." 
 
 But they did not get off immediately ; for be- 
 tween the calls of sympathizing friends, the visit 
 of the insurance agent, and the bringing order out 
 of the general confusion, it was lunch-time before 
 they were free. Then Bob dropped in upon them 
 and wanted to look the ground all over. But his 
 supply of " cuts " was too short for him to skip 
 more than one recitation, so he had to fly back to 
 college, and it was still early in the afternoon when
 
 RICH ENOUGH. 25 
 
 they left the house, bound on their secret expe- 
 dition. The spice of adventure about it put them 
 in high spirits. 
 
 " Who would think, to look at us," said Betty, 
 walking ahead of Marian and surveying her criti- 
 cally, " that we are seeking a refuge in which to 
 hide our poverty ! You are fairly imposing in 
 those furs, and if my cloth suit is n't just about as 
 it should be, I 'm much mistaken. People will 
 suppose," as she hailed a car, " that we are swells 
 going out to visit our poor relations." 
 
 But by the time they were deposited at the termi- 
 nus of the road, and stood watching the car dis- 
 appear around the corner toward the city, their 
 spirits flagged somewhat. Betty looked about her 
 and shivered a little. 
 
 " Oh, how lonely ! " she exclaimed. 
 
 They were in a bit of real country. It might 
 be beautiful in summer; but now, with the bare 
 branches of the trees swaying in the wind, and the 
 bleak meadows stretching far away in the pale sun- 
 light, the prospect looked desolate to the city-bred 
 girls. 
 
 " Don't let 's stand here any longer," said Marian, 
 her own heart sinking a little. 
 
 They turned to the south, and a short walk 
 brought them into a broad street lined with great 
 elms whose branches formed an arch over their 
 heads. On either side were comfortable, old-fash-
 
 26 RICH ENOUGH. 
 
 ioned houses, and the street ended in a square, 
 where the aristocracy of the olden days had lived 
 in dignified seclusion. 
 
 The girls stopped before a large white house, 
 set well back from the sidewalk. The tall, 
 fluted columns of the portico gave it a stately 
 air, and it was with quite a feeling of pride that 
 Marian put the key in the lock. The door swung 
 open into a square hall ; but no sooner were they 
 fairly inside, and the door closed behind them, than 
 Betty's courage gave out. 
 
 " Marian," she said, seizing her sister's arm, " I 
 don't dare to go around this house. Suppose there 
 is some one hidden here ! We ought not to have 
 come without one of the boys. Don't let 's stay ! " 
 
 " Oh, nonsense, Betty ! Give it up, now that we 
 are actually in the house ? There 's nothing to be 
 afraid of ; come on ! " 
 
 Betty followed reluctantly into the first room at 
 the left of the hall. It was a square room, with 
 panelled wainscoting, and a great stone fireplace 
 with a high mantel above it. A door beside the 
 fireplace led into a smaller room back of it. 
 
 " These rooms, of course, will be the parlor and 
 library," said Marian, passing through into the back 
 room. " Papa can slip in here when he wants to 
 be quiet. Why, see, it looks out into the garden ! 
 Betty, do come here and see how pretty it will be in 
 summer ! "
 
 RICH ENOUGH. 27 
 
 They went on through the back hall, pantries of 
 all kinds, and a dismal-looking kitchen, and so came 
 around to the front room on the right of the hall. 
 " This will have to be the dining-room," Marian 
 planned. " It has the morning sun, you see. It 
 will be very nice, don't you think so, Betty ? " 
 
 Instead of answering, Betty dropped down on 
 the old hair-cloth sofa which stood between the 
 windows, and burst into tears. To her sister's 
 exclamation of surprise she broke out, " It 's per- 
 fectly horrid. The floors are all up hill and down ; 
 the windows are so high up you need a step-ladder 
 to see out of them. I knew I should hate it, and 
 I do. I can't live here ! " 
 
 Marian in her turn dropped down on the sofa, and 
 regarded her sister with despairing eyes. She had 
 secretly thought that when Betty saw the old-fash- 
 ioned rooms her taste for decoration and house- 
 furnishing would inspire her with a desire to try 
 her hand in this new spot ; but, instead of that, 
 she had utterly collapsed, and Marian felt that her 
 scheme was an impossible one, for what could 
 she do alone ? 
 
 Betty broke out again : " You keep saying, ' This 
 will be the dining-room, and this will be papa's 
 study,' just as if it were all settled that we should 
 live here, when the distinct understanding was 
 that we should come to no decision until we had 
 been out here and looked the house all over."
 
 28 RICH ENOUGH. 
 
 " Why, of course it is n't decided. I 've thought 
 of it so much, I simply fell into that way of 
 speaking." 
 
 " Marian Kent, you have made up your mind to 
 live here, and the whole family together could n't 
 make you change it. It was just a form, your 
 bringing me here to ' decide,' " forgetting that she 
 had herself proposed the trip. " You '11 drag us 
 all out here by the hair of our heads, I know, 
 whether we want to come or not." 
 
 Before Marian could answer this unjust attack 
 there came an interruption. Rat-a-tat-tat went the 
 old-fashioned knocker. 
 
 " Who can that be ? " said Marian, as they both 
 started. " I suppose I must go to the door." 
 
 " Don't you do it. Marian ! Of course it 's some 
 one who has seen us come in here, and had the 
 impertinence to follow. Why didn't we bring 
 Bob?" 
 
 " It 's a woman," Marian announced, as she 
 peered out of the window, " an agent for tidy- 
 fasteners, probably." Again the knocker waked 
 the echoes.' . 
 
 " She is determined to come in, any way, and I 
 think, Betty, I '11 see who it is." Marian left the 
 door ajar as she stepped into the hall, so that Betty 
 could see the quaint figure that walked quickly in 
 as her sister unbolted the outside door. A gray 
 blanket shawl was folded over her shoulders, a
 
 RICH ENOUGH. 29 
 
 large silk hood covered her head, and her gown 
 barely reached her ankles. 
 
 " Don't keep the door open a moment, Miss 
 Kent," said a high-pitched voice, as the stranger 
 held out her hand to Marian. " I assume that this 
 is Miss Kent. Yes ? I knew it ! And now to 
 explain my intrusion, as it were. 
 
 "As I said to Sarah when I saw you come by the 
 house, if I don't go and speak to those girls now, 
 I may never have another chance, and shall just 
 regret it all my life. You see I knew all your 
 folks long before you ever saw daylight." 
 
 "Won't you come in here?" said the amazed 
 Marian ; and before Betty had time to smooth out 
 her plumage, the strange visitor was ushered into 
 the room. 
 
 " My sister Elizabeth, Mrs. " 
 
 " To be sure ! Mrs. Bassett, who was a Strong. 
 That probably does n't convey any idea to your 
 mind, but I will explain just as fast as ever I can." 
 And she seated herself energetically on the sofa, 
 and Betty saw then that the big hood hid an 
 attractive face, with bright eyes and wavy gray 
 hair. 
 
 " I saw you on the street, in the city, the other 
 day," she continued, addressing herself to Marian, 
 who, leaning against the window, looked particu- 
 larly tall and dignified, " and I never came so 
 near speaking to a stranger in all my life ; have n't
 
 30 RICH ENOUGH. 
 
 got over it yet that I did n't. And when I saw 
 you walking by the house to-day, as I was sitting 
 by the window, I fell right back in my chair. 
 And when I told Sarah, she said, ' If you don't go 
 and speak to those girls, I '11 go and ask them to 
 come over here ; for as for having you say all the 
 rest of your life you '11 never get over it, I can't 
 stand it.' And so I came. And though you 're 
 neither of you as pretty as she was, I should know 
 you were Alice Winthrop's daughters." Here Mrs. 
 Bassett was compelled to pause for breath, but 
 before either of her hearers could think of the 
 right thing to say under the circumstances, she 
 began again. " I 'm glad to find you in the house 
 where she was a girl. To think how I used to 
 come right in and go up those stairs to her room ! 
 Dear, dear ! and I haven't been in the house since ! 
 You see the way of it was, before your mother 
 thought of marrying, I had taken John Bassett, 
 and gone West, and only just back this spring ; and 
 changed enough it is, I can tell you ! I do wish 
 your folks were coming back to live in the home 
 of your ancestors, some of which are mine ; so 
 we are sort of related, though it would take me too 
 long to tell you now just how. But if I could see 
 Alice Winthrop's children going in and out of her 
 old home, it would do me a world of good." 
 
 And Mrs. Bassett looked inquiringly from one 
 to the other.
 
 RICH ENOUGH. 31 
 
 Before Marian could decide what response to 
 make to this, Betty spoke. " Well, Mrs. Bassett, 
 you '11 have the pleasure, for we are coming to live 
 here just as soon as we can get ready. We had a 
 fire in our house last night, and " 
 
 "Oh, I saw that in the paper ! I see every- 
 thing about you, and I 'm real sorry for you ; but 
 I declare, that fire was providential for us, if it 's 
 going to send you out here to live ; now that 
 does please me, and I '11 run right home and tell 
 Sarah. She 's my brother's second wife. You 
 can see our house outside the square, the second 
 from the corner. Now if there 's anything we can 
 do to help you when you 're moving in, just let us 
 know, and we '11 be real glad to lend you a tack- 
 hammer or anything else. But don't you sit still 
 another minute in this chilly house. I 'm going." 
 And the little woman rushed off before the girls 
 had time to accompany her to the door. 
 
 Marian turned on Betty at once. " What did 
 you mean by telling her so calmly that we are com- 
 ing here right away ? It will be all over South - 
 ville before morning. You fairly took my breath 
 away." 
 
 " I merely thought," said Betty, with a comical 
 look on her face, " that I would do my share of ' de- 
 ciding ! ' But for the last time I will say, Marian 
 Kent, that I just hate, hate, hate it ! Don't look so 
 dejected ; that 's my last fling. Now let 's come up-
 
 32 RICH ENOUGH. 
 
 stairs. How out of place our furniture will look 
 
 here ! " 
 
 . " There 's a lot of old stuff up garret." 
 
 " Really ! why did n't you say so before ? " and 
 Betty fairly flew up the broad, low stairs. At the 
 head she paused and clapped her hands as she sur- 
 veyed the large square landing over the front 
 hall. " We '11 have this for our morning-room, 
 with our sewing-table and writing-desk, and a 
 little bookcase with our pick-up books ; won't it 
 be cosey ?" 
 
 In the storeroom in the garret a most heteroge- 
 neous collection of furniture in all stages of dilapi- 
 dation greeted their sight. 
 
 " We '11 set Bob to tinkering here," said Marian, 
 pausing in the doorway, while Betty plunged 
 eagerly into the midst of the store. "Oh, here's 
 the sweetest desk, all full of little cubbies, just the 
 thing for our cosey corner, and do see that great 
 big chair! If it had new springs, and was re- 
 covered, it would be lovely in the parlor. Oh, what 
 a fascinating place ! Do look at that cute little 
 table over there ! " 
 
 " Betty, come out, do ! You will be covered with 
 dust. We'll come here with old gowns on some 
 day, and dig out the treasures." 
 
 " Any way," said Betty, as they started down- 
 stairs, " it will be fun to fix up the old place, however 
 we may feel about living in it. We might come
 
 RICH ENOUGH. 33 
 
 out here every day and work, and get it all ready 
 before we say a word to papa ; then drug him some 
 night, and bring him over in a carriage. Would n't 
 it be thrilling ? " 
 
 " Like a dime novel," said Marian, laughing, 
 " and so practicable ! " 
 
 They took one look through the upper rooms 
 and then hurried out of the house. The short 
 afternoon was fast merging into twilight, and it 
 was high time to be turning homeward. 
 
 " I wonder," said Marian, looking about the 
 square as they walked away, " what kind of people 
 live in these houses, and if they are nice ! Is n't it 
 strange that when this was mamma's old home, and 
 we have always lived so near, we know nothing at 
 all of the people about here ? " 
 
 " Don't you remember how full this house used 
 to be of children ? " Betty said, as they passed a 
 big, low, rather shabby brown house, with a comfort- 
 able veranda running all around it. " Perhaps they 
 have all grown up, and we shall have half a dozen 
 bosom friends within a week. I suppose in the 
 suburbs everybody calls on new people." 
 
 " Yes," said Marian, " and then Mrs. Bassett will 
 take us under her wing and introduce us." 
 
 " Do you know, Marian, I like that Mrs. Bassett. 
 She was just dying to go over the house with us, 
 but she had enough delicacy of feeling to think 
 that we would rather be alone. I hope, though, that 
 
 3
 
 34 RICH ENOUGH. 
 
 all our neighbors are not such talkers ! I like to 
 get in a word once in a while myself." 
 
 The two girls met their father in the hall that 
 evening and helped him take off his overcoat. 
 
 " We are going to have dinner in the parlor 
 to-night, papa," said Betty. " See how pleasant it 
 looks !" and she pushed back the portiere, showing 
 the table bright with flowers and silver. " There 
 were crowds of people here this morning," she 
 went on, " and they seemed to think that flowers 
 would be consoling. It was great fun." Then, 
 seeing how sober was her father's face, " we have 
 been talking heaps to-day, Marian and I, and we 
 want to tell you all about it." 
 
 Mr. Kent smiled faintly. " Supposing we keep 
 it till after dinner, for I am tired." 
 
 " Oh, my room does look so forlorn ! " Betty ex- 
 claimed, as they sat down at the table. " 1 can't 
 bear to go into it. Perhaps I shall never see that 
 room in order again," glancing slyly at Marian, 
 who gave her a warning look. But it was unneces- 
 sary : Mr. Kent was so absorbed in thought, he did 
 not notice it ; and although Betty chattered away 
 bravely all through dinner, she could not win more 
 than a passing smile from her father. After the 
 coffee, he settled himself in an easy-chair, and 
 then Betty perched herself on the arm and began : 
 " I 'm disappointed in you, papa ; you don't show 
 any interest in our great plan."
 
 KICK ENOUGH. 35 
 
 " Oh, yes," said Mr. Kent, rousing himself, " tell 
 me about it." 
 
 " It 's Marian's plan, really, and she must tell 
 it. I '11 simply elucidate when she grows foggy." 
 
 " Well, Marian ? " 
 
 " Is n't the Southville house empty now ? " 
 
 " Yes," he answered with a sigh, " and I wish I 
 knew of a tenant." 
 
 " That 's just it," Betty interposed. " Marian has 
 found a tenant." 
 
 " Who ? " said Mr. Kent, turning to Marian in 
 surprise. 
 
 " Betty and myself," she answered with a smile. 
 
 " What do you mean ? " he asked, almost sharply. 
 
 " Won't you take us ? " Marian tried to speak 
 lightly. 
 
 " You don't know what you are talking about. 
 One look at the house would settle the scheme at 
 once." 
 
 " Oh, Marian, begin at the beginning and tell him 
 all about it." 
 
 So Marian, with numerous side remarks from 
 Betty, went back to the night when she looked 
 over the accounts with him ; told of her remorseful 
 thoughts, the talk on the birthday night, the expe- 
 dition to-day, and the decision they had come to, if 
 he approved. Mr. Kent sat shading his eyes from 
 the light, and listened without a word. When Mar- 
 ian finished there was silence for a little time,
 
 36 RICH ENOUGH. 
 
 until Betty, in her impatience, spoke. " Don't you 
 think it a good plan, papa ? " 
 
 " I am afraid you have not counted the cost. 
 The winter would seem very long out there." 
 
 " Why, the idea of your discouraging us ! Won't 
 it save you ever so much money ? Marian said 
 so; and if we go there, we shall have furniture 
 enough without buying anything new, and we 
 are going to have great fun fixing it up. Oh, I 
 thought you 'd be so pleased ! " and Betty's face 
 was full of disappointment. 
 
 " Pleased ! " echoed Mr. Kent. " It would relieve 
 me as I cannot explain to you," and his voice broke. 
 
 " Why have n't we done it before," exclaimed 
 Marian, filled with poignant regret ; while emotional 
 Betty threw herself bodily upon her father, in the 
 midst of an April shower of tears. " What a little 
 pig I have been ! " 
 
 In the long talk which followed, Mr. Kent took 
 his daughters into his confidence as never before. 
 Now that their eyes were opened, he found them 
 eager to help him all that they could, and ready to 
 give up many things which he would never have 
 thought he could ask of them. Life had a new mean- 
 ing for them all as he shared his anxieties with them, 
 and when he kissed them good-night, there were 
 tears in all their eyes when he said, " Never pity 
 me again, my darlings, for I have had everything 
 in the world except wealth ! "
 
 CHAPTER IY. 
 
 WHEN the brothers learned of the great deci- 
 sion, through a note from Marian, they 
 were together in Will's room, which was just the 
 place for loafing, with its luxurious couch and easy- 
 chairs ; the open fire ; fur rugs " thrown about in a 
 large way," as Bob put it; fine pictures on the 
 walls ; beer-mugs, pipes, boxing-gloves, and fencing- 
 outfit on and over the mantel. Of course there 
 were many books, but it was the room of a man of 
 leisure rather than that of a hard student. 
 
 " On the whole," the elder brother said, after read- 
 ing Marian's note, " it 's about the best thing to be 
 done. They could n't afford to refurnish in town 
 with any kind of style, and there is always some- 
 thing rather fine in living in the * home of our an- 
 cestors,' as Marian calls it. That 's what takes the 
 girls, I know." 
 
 " "Which shows how little you do know," said 
 Bob with some warmth. " It is awfully hard for 
 the girls to give up the city and go off in winter to 
 Southville. They are just doing it to save money ; 
 and because they carry it off well, you are taken in. 
 I am ashamed that we should go right on, and they
 
 38 RICH ENOUGH. 
 
 make all the sacrifices ; but we might at least appre- 
 ciate what they are doing." 
 
 " In my opinion, the best way we can help is to 
 get our professions as fast as possible, so as to take 
 care of ourselves." 
 
 " Yes, if we assume that we have a right to 
 study a profession. I don't see why father has 
 not the right to turn us off and tell us to take care 
 of ourselves. We 're old enough." 
 
 " Look here, Bob," said his brother, taking his 
 cigar from his mouth and rising from the easy- 
 chair in which he had been lounging, " don't you 
 suppose I know that all this talk is aimed at me ? 
 I am of age, and I might throw away my education 
 and go to digging ditches, but whether I do or not 
 is none of your business. It 's between father and 
 myself. I don't want to quarrel with you, but you 
 are getting mighty cheeky, and I 'd like to suggest 
 that you devote yourself to managing your own 
 affairs, and let mine alone ! " 
 
 Bob's face had flushed hotly during this speech, 
 and he said fiercely : 
 
 " You don't care to quarrel with me ; you 're too 
 lazy, you mean ! But I 'd much rather you 'd do 
 that fair and square than be so confoundedly in- 
 different to everything ; " and without waiting for 
 an answer he left the room. 
 
 Will dropped back into his seat, discomposed 
 enough to forget his cigar for a time. " Imperti-
 
 men ENOUGH. 39 
 
 nent young beggar ! " he muttered ; but some of his 
 brother's words rankled. As it is with many 
 another eldest son, his career had been the first 
 consideration in the family ever since he could re- 
 member. Lately he had discovered that his sisters 
 and brother were beginning to take a critical atti- 
 tude toward him, which, after the unstinted admira- 
 tion of the past, was very uncomfortable. College 
 life makes a man self-centred for the time being, 
 and unless he is naturally of an unselfish nature 
 lie will find it hard to break the spell when he 
 comes out into the world. Will Kent as a law stu- 
 dent, with a circle of classmates, several of whom 
 took law merely as an excuse for continuing their 
 pleasant student life, had drifted into the habit of 
 working just enough to get through, and devoted 
 the rest of the time to what he designated as " so- 
 cial culture." To Bob it looked as if that consisted 
 of smoking a great deal with the boys, and " talk- 
 ing wild." 
 
 "I suppose I could cut off a penny here and 
 there," he reflected, thinking of his choice cigars 
 and certain little suppers ; " but I hate nigging, 
 and the boys would say I was growing stingy. 
 They would n't like that at home. Bob, I know, 
 thinks I might tutor ; but how it would hamper me, 
 and my room would n't be the gathering-place any 
 longer ; and what is more important for a lawyer 
 than a large circle of acquaintances ? Well, I don't
 
 40 RICH ENOUGH. 
 
 see that I can do much any way. I have been 
 rather extravagant on clothes, I '11 admit. Sha'n't 
 need anything more in that line for some time, and 
 1 '11 look after expenses a little more sharply. No 
 use in saying anything about it, though ; the girls 
 would take it as an admission that I 've been ex- 
 travagant, and then they 'd have a good pull over 
 me." 
 
 Bob, meanwhile, had rushed home to soothe his 
 ruffled feelings. He found his sisters in the parlor, 
 which looked like a workshop, with curtains and 
 furniture coverings and the contents of piece-bags 
 scattered all over the floor and chairs. They were 
 hard at work, both with needles and tongues, and 
 he fell on them like a whirlwind. " Bless you, my 
 children ! " he said, giving them each a hug. " I 've 
 come over to admire you and offer my humble 
 services." 
 
 " You 're just the one we wanted," said Betty, 
 eagerly, as she picked up her thread, scissors, and 
 thimble from the floor. " We keep thinking of so 
 many things to do, it makes us fairly wild ; and if 
 you would make a list for us, it would help ever so 
 much." 
 
 Bob and Marian laughed, and the latter said, 
 " Betty is perfectly happy now. She has not had 
 such a chance for lists in all her life." 
 
 " You may laugh, but there 's nothing which so 
 saves the brain when you 've about forty things to
 
 RICH ENOUGH. 41 
 
 remember. Here, Bob, put down heads, Parlor, 
 Study, Dining-room, etc., and we '11 tell you what 
 to put under them. And, oh, Bob, you must give 
 us every moment you can ; there are piles of things 
 in the garret that would be perfectly lovely if they 
 were mended up, and you 're so good at that ! " 
 
 " I '11 work every afternoon, if I have to study 
 till daybreak to make up for it. Tt makes me feel 
 awfully small to do nothing myself at this crisis of 
 our affairs. The girls are the flowers of this 
 family!" He ended with a laugh to hide his real 
 earnestness. 
 
 " You 're too complimentary to seem natural," 
 Betty said. 
 
 " Well, I '11 tell you what it is : I 've more than 
 half a mind to throw up college and go into Uncle 
 Dwight's office. Why, in a little while I might be 
 supporting you all, and it will be forever or never, 
 the way I have started." 
 
 " I '11 turn dressmaker first ! " said Betty. 
 " Why, it would just spoil it all if you gave up 
 college. What are we going to retire from the 
 world for, if not to give our boys the chance to dis- 
 tinguish themselves ? " 
 
 " I know," said Bob with a groan, " and that 's 
 what I don't like." 
 
 " It 's ' all in the family,' so what difference does 
 it make ? " said Marian. 
 
 Just then there was a clinking of chains and a
 
 42 RICH ENOUGH. 
 
 carriage stopped at the house. Betty sprang to 
 the window and peeped out. "Aunt Cornelia, of all 
 people ! " she exclaimed. " Look at this room ! " 
 
 The others rose instinctively to their feet. The 
 door opened, and a tall, impressive woman, clad in 
 the richest of gowns and a most aggressively new 
 bonnet, swept into the room. 
 
 " Good afternoon, girls," she said, allowing each 
 of them to kiss her cheek. " Ah, Robert ! taking a 
 cut as usual, I see. Really," sinking into a chair 
 and raising a lorgnette to her eyes, " it 's rather 
 a pity to get your only habitable room into such a 
 state." 
 
 " We are not receiving to-day ; did ri't Maggie 
 tell you ? " said Betty. There was such innocence 
 in her tone that Aunt Cornelia could not believe 
 she meant anything, and so, ignoring her, turned to 
 Marian. 
 
 " I have not been able to come in before to talk 
 things over ; and really, Marian, I should think you 
 would have come to me, instead of waiting for me 
 to come to you." 
 
 " Why, Aunt Cornelia, it did not occur to me 
 that our fire was of enough importance for me to 
 take up any of your time with it," said Marian, a 
 little color coming into her cheeks. 
 
 " You know very well that with me the interests 
 of the family are paramount." 
 
 Aunt Cornelia suddenly fastened a penetrating
 
 "AUNT CORNELIA, OF ALL PEOPLE!"
 
 RICH ENOUGH. 43 
 
 gaze on Bob. She fancied she had heard a chuckle 
 from the corner where he had taken refuge beside 
 Betty ; but they both looked very serious, and so 
 she continued. 
 
 " I have a plan to propose which I know will be 
 distasteful to you, but which I consider the most 
 suitable thing for you under the circumstances." 
 
 " Aunt Cornelia," hastily interposed Marian, 
 noting the glances which Bob and Betty were 
 exchanging, " we have made up our minds to go 
 back to the old house in South ville, and sub-let this 
 one." 
 
 " Oh," she responded, " you have decided on 
 that, have you?" 
 
 " Yes, and papa is to advertise at once. Don't 
 you think it is a good plan ? " 
 
 Aunt Cornelia's bonnet somehow looked less 
 aggressive as she answered : 
 
 " A very good plan, Marian. Of course, with 
 your improvident habits, you have nothing laid by 
 with which to refurnish this house, so it is the 
 most dignified thing you can do. By this move 
 you can keep the knowledge of your straitened 
 circumstances in the family." 
 
 " It 's nothing to be ashamed of ! " said Betty, 
 impetuously. " I mean to tell every one that we 
 can't afford to live in the city." 
 
 Aunt Cornelia turned her lorgnette on Betty. 
 " Elizabeth, when will you learn repose of man-
 
 44 RICH ENOUGH. 
 
 ner ? " she said coldly. " It is quite unnecessary 
 to take society into your confidence." 
 
 " We sha'n't need to say anything," Marian said 
 laughingly. " Every one will understand it." And 
 then, to change the current of her aunt's thoughts, 
 " But what is your plan, Aunt Cornelia ? " 
 
 " Oh, I quite approve of your going to Southvillc, 
 and since that is decided upon, there is no need of 
 considering anything else." 
 
 Aunt Cornelia had no idea of telling them she 
 had come to propose that very plan herself ! She 
 added graciously : 
 
 " I have a set of furniture in my storeroom that 
 I will send you, and one or two chairs. For the 
 country they will do very well, if they are not quite 
 in style. I don't doubt that you will be very com- 
 fortable out there, and I hope you will find a com- 
 pensation in doing your duty that will make up for 
 any loss of gayety." Aunt Cornelia wore a very 
 righteous expression. 
 
 " I am sorry for Betty to lose so much. You 
 know she was to come out this winter," said 
 Marian, with a tiny hope that their rich relation 
 would be moved to do something for the debutante. 
 
 " It won't hurt her to wait a year ; her manners 
 are still very unformed ; " and with this neat little 
 thrust Aunt Cornelia rose to her feet. 
 
 Bob escorted her to her carriage, and returned to 
 find Betty shaking her fist at the window. " I
 
 RICH ENOUGH. 45 
 
 believe she 's glad to think of getting us out of her 
 sight. Selfish old thing ! she knows she ought to 
 give me a reception this winter. I '11 find some 
 way of going into society with my 'unformed 
 manners,' if only to crush her, and I '11 elope before 
 her very eyes, if she does n't look out ! " 
 
 " She 'd only say, ' Just what I should have ex- 
 pected of that girl ! ' " laughed Bob. 
 
 " Why could n't she be one of those lovely aunts 
 with a big heart who would like nothing better than 
 to devote herself to making her nephews and nieces 
 happy ! " sighed Marian. 
 
 " With all her money, what gorgeous times she 
 could give us," added Betty. 
 
 " It 's not her money ; it 's Uncle Dwight's," said 
 Bob, literally. 
 
 " Well, he would be generous, if she would let 
 him. He is really fond of us. How did papa ever 
 come to have such a sister ! " and Betty picked up 
 her curtain with a vigorous shake, and began to 
 work again. 
 
 Well, I must be off now," said Bob, " but I '11 
 be on hand to-morrow. Don't let Aunt Cornelia 
 haunt you ! " 
 
 Mr. Kent and Will were not allowed to set foot 
 in Southville until the decoration committee had 
 done its work. Fresh paper and paint soon took 
 away all mustiness from the old walls. The attic 
 treasures were brought down, and no feat in the
 
 46 RICH ENOUGH. 
 
 way of carpentering and upholstering was too 
 difficult for Bob and Betty. Broken chairs were 
 fitted with new arms and legs, while the paint pot 
 and pretty cushions concealed all deficiencies. 
 When the grand consummation was reached Mr. 
 Kent and Will received invitations to dine in 
 Berkeley Square, which they accepted, the former 
 with gratitude, the latter with curiosity. The 
 house in town had been dismantled by degrees 
 under Mr. Kent's very feet, and the poor man had 
 felt for some days as if there were no place so 
 uncomfortable as home. 
 
 He met Will in the horse-car going out, and they 
 exchanged views as to the superior way in which 
 they would have managed this moving, which were 
 quite satisfactory to themselves, and put them in a 
 very pleasant frame of mind. 
 
 As they approached the house they saw that 
 it was ablaze with light. Mr. Kent rapped the 
 old brass knocker vigorously. There was a 
 scurry of feet inside, and then Bob threw open 
 the door. 
 
 " Welcome home, welcome home, gentlemen ! 
 Now step in quick, before the candles blow out." 
 
 As they obeyed, Will glanced around him with 
 a critical eye ; but there was nothing to condemn 
 in the wide hall, with its broad staircase, where the 
 tall clock was ticking away on the landing, with the 
 old-time chairs and the high-backed settle under the
 
 EICH ENOUGH. 47 
 
 portrait of great-grandfather, who looked much 
 more at home than he ever had in the city house. 
 
 " This is n't bad," he murmured to himself, 
 while a look of satisfaction dawned in his father's 
 eyes. 
 
 "Now, gentlemen," said Bob, having helped them 
 off with their coats, " let me present you to your 
 hostesses," and he ushered them into the room on 
 the left, where Marian and Betty stood waiting to 
 receive the guests. Bob had insisted that they 
 should stay in there. " We must make a picture," 
 lie said, " and you girls set off the room very well." 
 The big logs blazing on the andirons threw a 
 becoming light on their bright faces and pretty 
 gowns. 
 
 Will and his father were so ceremonious that 
 they all unconsciously put on their " company 
 manners" as they stood about the fire. 
 
 " Well," said Bob, finally, " is n't somebody 
 going to express an opinion ? " 
 
 " If you don't like it, say so, and have the agony 
 over," supplemented Betty. 
 
 " You do like it, don't you, papa ? " said Marian, 
 slipping her hand in his. 
 
 " Yes, indeed ! It 's like old times." And Mr. 
 Kent looked about the low, wainscoted room with 
 evident pleasure. 
 
 There was a happy mingling of the past and 
 present. The prim old sofa was piled with luxu-
 
 48 RICH ENOUGH. 
 
 rious cushions ; a straight-backed Priscilla chair 
 stood by a modern tea-table ; a lamp with fluffy shade 
 shed its light over a writing-desk of colonial age. 
 
 Will nodded approvingly as he said, " It 's quite 
 the thing. I shall have to bring Maurice out ; he 'd 
 go wild over that desk." 
 
 " Dinner 's ready. All forward to the dining- 
 room ! " said Bob, throwing open the opposite door. 
 
 Mr. Kent gallantly offered his arm to Marian, 
 and Will sauntered along beside Betty. The table, 
 lit by candles in branching candlesticks, was a 
 pretty sight. Good old Ellen, who had followed the 
 family into exile, was determined to show that she 
 could get up as good a dinner as ever the cook had 
 done, and they fared sumptuously. 
 
 " If it is going to be all like this," said Bob, 
 helping himself to a second piece of duck and a 
 fresh supply of celery, " I '11 take board here instead 
 of at commons." 
 
 " It is n't," said Betty, " we are coming right 
 down to baked beans and codfish to-morrow." 
 
 " Then I don't dine here to-morrow," said Will. 
 
 " I don't think you 've been asked," responded 
 Betty, saucily. " But tell us what you think of this 
 room, Will ? I declare, Marian, it really is n't a 
 bit worth while fixing up a house for men ! They 
 just look around, and don't say a word ! " 
 
 The " men " laughed, and Mr. Kent said, " It 's 
 all beautiful, and I 'na filled with admiration for my
 
 RICH ENOUGH. 49 
 
 daughters, but are n't the things very much what 
 we had in the other house ? " 
 
 Betty groaned. " But don't you see how much 
 more in harmony everything is out here ; and 
 how carpets have been made out of nothing, and 
 curtains dug out of the garret, and things turned 
 upside down and inside out ? Oh, dear, I suppose 
 you don't ! " 
 
 " I do, emphatically," said Bob, looking at his 
 hands, which were even more battered than could 
 be accounted for by base-ball. 
 
 " Where did you get all this old china ? " asked 
 Will, looking at the quaint buffets which were 
 built into the corners of the room. 
 
 " Docs n't it show off well ? " said Betty. " A 
 lot of it was on our top pantry shelf in town, all 
 broken, and I mended it with cement. The rest 
 was on view, only you were so used to it you did n't 
 notice it. Is n't that a nice old mirror between the 
 windows ? It makes the room look twice as large ; 
 and do you notice that the chairs and sofa have 
 mahogany frames ? Some day Marian and I are 
 going to have them re-covered, and then they will 
 be lovely." 
 
 Betty proceeded to give all the details that had 
 not been asked for, and by the time they were eat- 
 ing frozen pudding her auditors had been worked 
 up into a satisfactory state of admiration, and con- 
 tentment reigned supreme. 
 4
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE anti-climax came the next morning when 
 they gathered around the half-past seven 
 breakfast. Even Bob grumbled. 
 
 " I ought to have gone back with Will last even- 
 ing. It 's no fun turning out of bed in the middle 
 of the night, when the house is as cold as a barn." 
 
 " I hope we are going to be able to keep warm 
 here," Mr. Kent said, looking rather dubious. " I 
 am afraid we shall have to close up this fireplace 
 and put in a coal stove. We can't afford to bum 
 wood all the time, or freeze either." 
 
 " Oh, dear ! It would just spoil the room," cried 
 Betty. 
 
 " Well, we can't help that." 
 
 Left alone, the girls huddled up to the fireplace 
 and fell to talking over the things still left to do 
 about the house. Ellen reminded them of the 
 flight of time by coming in with a pan of steaming 
 water in her hands, and dish-towels over her arm. 
 These articles she deposited on the table, with a 
 very suggestive look at Marian, and then retired. 
 
 " Dear me ! I forgot that we promised to wash 
 up the breakfast dishes and take care of our own
 
 RICH ENOUGH. 51 
 
 rooms out here ! " said Marian, rising reluctantly 
 from her chair. 
 
 " Ugh ! " was Betty's response. " We are falling 
 down on the realities with a thud. It will be like 
 going into an ice-box to go up stairs ; and as for 
 dish-washing, I hate that above everything else." 
 
 Jt was in deep gloom that she picked up a dish- 
 towel. 
 
 " It really is n't so much," said Marian, as she 
 daintily swashed her dish-mop around in a cup, 
 trying not to put her white fingers in the water. 
 
 " Oh, it is n't the doing it," responded Betty ; 
 " it 's the having to do it that 's hateful. There 
 comes Mrs. Bassett ! Don't let her see us washing 
 dishes ! " and Betty flew to shut the door into the 
 hall. 
 
 " Don't let 's be silly," said Marian ; and going to 
 the front door she opened it before Mrs. Bassett 
 had time to knock. 
 
 " Good morning, good morning, my dear ! How 
 are you, and how do you do, and did your first even- 
 ing go off well ? I could n't wait another minute 
 to hear all about it," and the motherly neighbor 
 stepped briskly in. 
 
 " Washing your breakfast dishes ? Now I do 
 like to see young ladies so particular. That is the 
 way the old-fashioned housekeepers used to do, 
 and there never was any glass and silver as bright 
 as theirs."
 
 52 RICH ENOUGH. 
 
 " Oh, Mrs. Bassett," cried Betty, " I don't wash 
 dishes from a single high and lofty motive. It 
 goes against the grain fearfully with me. Why, I 
 demand, should a girl with such a mind as mine, 
 be doing such mechanical work ? I should respect 
 myself much more if my brain could save my 
 hands, that is, if I could earn enough to hire 
 some one to wash our dishes." 
 
 Mrs. Bassett took out her knitting and settled 
 herself comfortably on the sofa. There was noth- 
 ing she liked better than to discuss large questions. 
 
 " To everything there is a season, and a time to 
 every purpose under the sun," she said. " I guess 
 if you wash dishes when it seems to be your duty, 
 you'll have a chance to do something else some 
 day. Does n't it take brain to decide when the 
 time has come in your life to wash dishes ? I think 
 so." 
 
 " Oh, Marian's brain did that," responded Betty, 
 gazing abstractedly into the dish-pan. " I ' fit all 
 day and I fit all night ; ' still, here I am ! Now, 
 what I want to know is, if you are put on a high 
 moral plane through no act of your own, can you 
 take any credit to yourself ? Or, to speak in the 
 terms of logic, my dear Mrs. Bassett, must we not 
 say : 
 
 " I am to be commended if I am here by my own volition, 
 But I am not here by my own volition, 
 Therefore I am not to be commended " ?
 
 RICH ENOUGH. 53 
 
 "I don't know what rule you're talking by," 
 said the good woman, " but common sense and the 
 Bible '11 do well enough for me. If you make the 
 most of the place where you 're put, and do what 
 comes to your hand cheerfully, 1 guess you need n't 
 worry about the logic of it. ' A wise son [which 
 might just as well be daughter] maketh a glad 
 father.' ' Do with your might what your hand finds 
 to do,' and ' He that putteth his hand to the plough 
 and looketh back is not fit for the kingdom.' ' : 
 
 " Do put your argument in a syllogistic form ! " 
 pleaded Betty, clasping her hands. 
 
 " Silly fiddlesticks ! " ejaculated Mrs. Bassett. 
 " You can do all of that business you want to, if it 
 amuses you, but don't ask me to waste my time. 
 What I know I 've learned from experience, and 
 that 's something reliable." 
 
 " Well, what have you learned as to the moral 
 effect of doing what you don't want to do in this 
 world ? If you could show me the good of it, I 'd 
 thank you more than tongue can tell." 
 
 " I know this," said Mrs. Bassett, shrewdly : " The 
 interesting people are n't those who have just sailed 
 along on the surface, wafted by nothing harsher 
 than zephyrs ; it 's those who meet squalls and 
 high waves, and conquer difficulties, that 's worth 
 knowing. Why, I 've seen girls who never had a 
 care in the world, except to look pretty, and every- 
 thing they wanted to be had for the asking. You
 
 54 men ENOUGH. 
 
 like to look at 'em, just as you would at a picture ; 
 but, dear me ! there ain't an} 7 sort of depth to them : 
 they 're everlastingly the same, and you could n't 
 any more neighbor with 'em than you could with 
 sister Sarah's Parian marble lamb ! " 
 
 Both the girls laughed. " The dishes are done," 
 said Marian. 
 
 "Well, I must run. Don't you girls get dis- 
 couraged," and Mrs. Bassett laid a kindly hand on 
 a shoulder of each. " It takes both cream o' tartar 
 and soda to make nice light cake. You need the 
 acid just as much as you do the sweetening, and I 
 guess it 's so in life." 
 
 Marian and Betty were in " Cosey Corner " one 
 afternoon a little later in the week, making over 
 one of Marian's party gowns for Betty to wear to 
 her first ball. It was the coming-out party of her 
 dearest friend, and Betty was to go in town and 
 spend the night. All this was blissful, but the one 
 drawback was anxiety over her gown. Marian 
 was down on her knees pinning up the bottom of 
 the skirt, when a card was brought up. 
 
 " The Misses Pierce," she read ; " that is the 
 rector's name." 
 
 " Oh, dear ! You '11 have to go down first, 
 Marian ; 1 must get out of this." 
 
 Marian ran down to the parlor to find two thin, 
 tall old ladies sitting bolt upright on the very edge 
 of the sofa. They were dressed just alike in black,
 
 .RICH ENOUGH. 55 
 
 with their false fronts at just the same angle, and 
 their hair brooches on exactly the same spot. 
 They rose solemnly as she entered, and one of 
 them, taking a step forward, said, "I am Miss 
 Pierce. Allow me to present my sister, Miss Ma- 
 tilda Pierce, Miss Kent. As you may have surmised, 
 we are the sisters of the rector of St. John's." 
 
 " I am very glad to see you," said Marian, taking 
 the hand so stiffly offered. " Do let me fix some 
 cushions behind you ; that couch is so uncomfort- 
 able without them." 
 
 Both ladies declined. They were quite accus- 
 tomed to sitting without support, the elder re- 
 marked, and she continued in measured tones : 
 
 " My brother, seeing you in church on Sunday, 
 desired us to call upon you. He will come himself 
 at some time when there is a prospect of finding 
 Mr. Kent, your father, at home." 
 
 Miss Pierce pronounced all her words with a 
 precision which accorded well with her appearance. 
 She was consistent throughout. 
 
 Marian murmured that her father would be very 
 happy to receive Mr. Pierce, and then observed 
 that the church was a very pretty one. 
 
 "Evidently that surprises you in these wilds, 
 Miss Kent," was the uncomfortable reply. 
 
 " It was not that at all," Marian answered hast- 
 ily, while Miss Matilda interposed deprecatingly : 
 
 " Doubtless Miss Kent was impressed with the
 
 56 RICH ENOUGH, 
 
 beautiful adornment of the pulpit. My sister ar- 
 ranged it herself," she added. Marian looked at 
 the angular maiden and could hardly believe that 
 the graceful decoration of bitter-sweet and clematis 
 she had noticed could be hers. 
 
 " It was lovely," she said. " I enjoyed it through 
 the whole service." 
 
 " It was not intended to distract one's thoughts," 
 said the decorator, though her features relaxed a 
 little. Marian thought her terrible, and was won- 
 dering what it would be safe to say next, when 
 the entrance of Betty produced a diversion. She 
 brought an atmosphere of life and brightness into 
 the room which was most welcome. Her soft blue 
 gown brought out the rich tints of her hair, and 
 Miss Pierce could not keep her eyes from her. 
 Marian, after the introduction, was glad enough to 
 leave the difficult spinster to Betty, and herself 
 turned to Miss Matilda, who was a milder edition 
 of Miss Pierce. She evidently had an immense 
 admiration for her sister, and at once began in 
 confidential undertones to talk about her. 
 
 " She ought to have been an artist, Miss Kent. 
 At school her talent was considered something 
 remarkable, and if she had not always been obliged 
 to live for others, she would have distinguished 
 herself." 
 
 Marian began to forgive Miss Pierce, seeing in 
 her uncomfortableness a thwarted life. She asked
 
 RICH ENOUGH. 57 
 
 in what line of art her talent lay, and Miss Matilda 
 eagerly described some of the symbolic pieces she 
 had painted. 
 
 " ' Spring ' is perhaps her finest work. A beauti- 
 ful young maiden, seated on a bank, with her lap 
 full of flowers, typical of youth, you know. I wish 
 that you might see it, my dear ! " Miss Matilda 
 could not be formal long. " It is so like your 
 sister!" and she gazed admiringly at Betty, who 
 was talking away animatedly with Miss Pierce, tell- 
 ing her all the family secrets, Marian felt sure, as 
 she caught certain words. " I must turn the con- 
 versation," she thought. But Betty just then said, 
 " Won't you tell me something about our neigh- 
 bors, Miss Pierce ? I am so interested in this next 
 house, which is all shut up. Won't it be opened in 
 the spring; and what kind of people own it?" 
 
 The Misses Pierce exchanged glances. Miss 
 Matilda coughed, while her sister said dryly : 
 
 "There is nothing connected with that house 
 which should interest you. There is only one 
 member of the family left, a most undesirable 
 one, and he lives in Europe a large part of the 
 time. On the other side of you is Madame Salis- 
 bury, of one of the oldest families in the country. 
 You would find an acquaintance with her very 
 profitable if she were pleased to take an interest 
 in you." 
 
 " Oh, is that the dear little old lady who wears
 
 58 RICH ENOUGH. 
 
 such funny, old-fashioned gowns ? She is so dainty 
 and cunning I should like to steal her for a doll ! " 
 
 The Misses Pierce looked very much shocked. 
 " Madame Salisbury is not one to be treated with 
 irreverence," murmured the elder, severely. 
 
 " Oh, I meant that for a compliment," said Betty, 
 cheerfully. 
 
 Just then the doorbell rang again, and a visitor 
 of about Betty's own age was ushered in, followed 
 closely by a little golden-haired girl. 
 
 " Miss Penfield, our good doctor's daughter." 
 Miss Pierce rose and performed the ceremony of 
 introduction in an impressive manner. 
 
 " And this is Lillian," Miss Penfield said. " I 
 could not come without my shadow." 
 
 "I am glad you did not," responded Marian, 
 cordially, as she drew the little figure toward her. 
 
 " Now, sister, we will withdraw," said Miss 
 Pierce. 
 
 " Won't you let me give you a cup of tea before 
 you go ? " asked Marian. 
 
 " Thank you ; we have never acquired the habit 
 of eating between meals," was the reponse, and the 
 two sisters moved toward the door. 
 
 Marian accompanied them into the hall, while 
 Betty, catching the sympathetic twinkle in the 
 eyes of the younger visitor, dropped down upon 
 the couch, saying, 
 
 " They think I 'm a disrespectful minx."
 
 RICH ENOUGH. 59 
 
 "What have you done?" asked Miss Penfield, 
 showing her dimples. She was a rosy-cheeked girl, 
 with blue eyes, and looked as if she were always 
 good-natured. 
 
 " Why, I said that I should like Madame Salis- 
 bury for a doll, and they looked as if they would 
 faint away." 
 
 " That was rather dreadful ! Like patting roy- 
 alty on the head; for Madame Salisbury is our 
 Queen Victoria, and only to be spoken of with 
 bated breath." 
 
 " Oh, dear, I am awfully sorry ! " and Betty 
 looked so crushed that her guest could not help 
 breaking into a laugh, in which she was soon joined 
 by Betty herself. Miss Penfield began to think 
 that the formal call on the city girls was not so 
 bad as she had expected. 
 
 "Perhaps it would revive your spirits to have 
 some tea," said Marian, coming back just in time 
 to hear Betty's remark, and sitting down by the 
 tea-table. " I believe I remember you, Miss Pen- 
 field. Aren't you the little girl with long curls 
 that my aunt borrowed for me to play with one 
 day long ago?" 
 
 " Yes ; and I cried, and had to go home in 
 disgrace." 
 
 " And have n't you a house full of brothers and 
 sisters ? " 
 
 " I should think so ! Our name is legion."
 
 60 RICH ENOUGH. 
 
 " What good times you must have ! " said Betty. 
 
 " Indeed we do." 
 
 Ellen appeared in the door with the brass tea- 
 kettle and a plate of little cakes, which she depos- 
 ited on the table with a broad smile at Betty. 
 
 " Oh, Ellen, you are a treasure ! " said the latter, 
 and Ellen retreated with her smile broader than 
 before. 
 
 " These are my pet cakes," explained Betty to 
 the guest as she passed the plate, " but I have to 
 go down on my knees to Ellen to get them." 
 
 " Why don't you make them yourself ? " asked 
 the doctor's practical daughter. 
 
 " Don't suggest it ! I have n't any gift in the 
 cooking line, and I don't believe I want to acquire 
 one. Marian is a natural born cook, but she tries 
 to conceal the fact from Ellen as far as possible." 
 
 " Oh, I wish we might have a cooking club ! I 
 should love to learn some new things, and it would 
 be such fun to do it with other girls ! " 
 
 " Mollie can cook anything," said Lillian, shyly. 
 
 " Well, I 've had to," said her sister, cheerfully, 
 " so it 's no credit to me." 
 
 " Why not have a chafing-dish club ? " said 
 Betty. " I should like to cook if we could get 
 some fun out of it. Haven't we a chafing-dish, 
 Marian ? " 
 
 " Yes," said her sister ; " but you '11 never do 
 anything more than make Welsh rarebit with that."
 
 RICH ENOUGH. 61 
 
 " Indeed I shall. You can live in a chafing- 
 dish. Haven't I read ' 100 Recipes' from begin- 
 ning to end ? And did n't Edith Kimball, when 
 she was married, keep house with one for weeks ? 
 Just think of it," she said, turning to Mollie, while 
 Marian, who dearly loved children, devoted herself 
 to the little sister, " these two people, who had a 
 house at Newport, and a yacht, and everything else 
 you can think of, went into an apartment in New 
 York in summer, and Edith did all the work. She 
 thought it would be so romantic ! " 
 
 "How did her husband like it?" asked Mollie. 
 
 " He took her out to Delmonico's to dinner 
 pretty often," laughed Betty ; " but that 's nothing, 
 they could have had enough to eat without that. 
 I have made up my mind I will become a chafing- 
 dish artist." 
 
 " And then we '11 give a supper some night, and 
 invite the Misses Pierce and Madame Salisbury, 
 and our improper neighbor on the other side Oh, 
 Miss Penfield, do tell us about him ! Miss Pierce 
 was so mysterious, all my curiosity is aroused." 
 
 " I can't tell you much," said Mollie. " He is 
 only here a month or so each spring, and he is 
 very melancholy looking, and hardly ever stirs out 
 of his house." 
 
 " But what is the matter ; was there insanity in 
 the family ? " 
 
 " 1 don't think so ; but it all happened before I
 
 62 RICH ENOUGH. 
 
 was old enough to know about it. Papa sees him 
 when he comes back, but we never do." 
 
 A cup of tea is a great encourager of confidence, 
 and the girls became very well acquainted before 
 they separated. 
 
 " Well," said Marian, when they were alone, " I 
 never saw you make friends with any one so 
 quickly, Betty, as you have with Miss Penfield." 
 
 " I like her," said Betty. " She 's such a jolly 
 girl, even if a tiny bit suburban in cut, and I must 
 have a bosom friend, you know ! " 
 
 " Oh, you heathen ! " said Marian.
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 ALL girls know the critical moment when a 
 party gown is tried on for the last time. 
 As Betty stood in her room, surrounded by candles, 
 with her glass tipped back as far as possible, her 
 heart was beating fast. 
 
 " Do speak ! " she said impatiently to Marian, 
 who was regarding her critically on all sides. 
 
 " It hangs beautifully," Marian said, giving the 
 pink tulle a little twitch on one side. 
 
 " What is the matter, then ? 1 know from your 
 tone that there 's something." 
 
 "Oh," faltered Marian, "I'm afraid there's 
 something wrong with the sleeves." 
 
 Betty hastily tipped the glass forward so that 
 she could see the upper part of her costume. 
 
 " What is it ? " she demanded anxiously. 
 
 "They aren't full enough, and you've put in 
 every bit of stuff, have n't you ? " 
 
 " Yes," said Betty, moodily. 
 
 The effect of the soft tulle shaped to the bodice 
 by satin ribbons was just right, but the sleeves 
 were manifestly scant. There was nothing fluffy 
 about them.
 
 64 RICH ENOUGH. 
 
 " Push it up into a puff." 
 
 " I can't ; my gloves just come to the elbow. 
 That would only look green." 
 
 " Oh, well, nobody will notice." 
 
 " Marian Kent, you 'd never go to a party with a 
 thing that looked like this. To think of the way 
 we worked, and all for nothing ! I shall just stay 
 at home. I would n't take another stitch in the old 
 thing for all the dances in the world ! " 
 
 And poor, tired Betty, regardless of her gown, 
 threw herself on the bed and wept tears of tribula- 
 tion. 
 
 " Oh, Betty, you '11 muss it all up ! " 
 
 " I don't care ! What is the use ? I might as 
 well give up everything. We can't keep up with 
 the others. It 's wicked, anyway. I 've spent money 
 for ribbons and lace, and tired myself to death. 1 
 wish I had declined, with you ! " 
 
 Marian was so torn between sympathy for her 
 sister, and anxiety lest the gown should be hope- 
 lessly crushed, that she fluttered around the bed 
 distractedly. 
 
 " Don't give up so, Betty, and do get up ! There 
 must be some way of fixing such a little thing, arid 
 you are jamming your skirt flat." 
 
 " It will match the sleeves better then ! " But 
 Betty rose and went gloomily to the glass again. 
 " If I could only afford satin sleeves, but I must n't 
 think of that."
 
 RICH ENOUGH. 65 
 
 " You could introduce some wide satin ribbons 
 and make them fuller in that way." 
 
 " I suppose I might," with reviving animation. 
 " But that means another trip to town." 
 
 " I '11 go right after breakfast to-morrow for 
 you." 
 
 "You can't; your cold is too bad. No, I'll go 
 through this to the bitter end myself." 
 
 Betty did not .get off until nearly noon the next 
 day. She lunched with May Vinton and went 
 shopping with her, and by the time she was ready 
 to go home she was in a state of utter discontent. 
 Her thoughts were running in the old strain again. 
 " Why should others have so much more than we ? " 
 She bad stood by while her companion bought all 
 sorts of pretty things ; she had seen just the gloves 
 she wanted, but could not afford. That was trying 
 enough, but she was burning with shame to think 
 that she had not been brave enough to say so, 
 instead of telling May they weren't quite right. 
 She had missed a car, and must wait twenty min- 
 utes, so it would be dark when she reached home. 
 Altogether, things were " horrid." 
 
 She noticed, near by, a bookstore with unusually 
 attractive windows, and thought she would go in 
 there to wait for her car. It was a branch of a 
 well-known uptown firm, she saw, evidently estab- 
 lished there for the holiday trade. 
 
 As she stepped in, a young man left a group at
 
 66 RICH ENOUGH. 
 
 the end of the store and came forward. To her 
 bewilderment, she recognized Bob. 
 
 " Why, are you waiting for a car too ? How 
 nice ! Now I sha'n't have to go alone." 
 
 Her back was toward the light, but at the sound 
 of her voice Bob stood still with a warning " Hush." 
 His expression was so curious, she simply stared at 
 him in wonder. 
 
 " Don't say anything," he whispered ; " the fel- 
 lows are watching us. I '11 come out with you." 
 
 Then going back to the group, he explained that 
 he was going to show the lady which horse-car 
 to take. They laughed significantly as, taking his 
 coat and hat, he left them. " Beauty in distress. 
 Wish I were in his shoes," said one. 
 
 Betty did not say a word until they were out of 
 sight of the store. Then she was just beginning, 
 "What does this mean?" when Bob, on his part, 
 ejaculated, " What on earth possessed you to go in 
 there ? It would n't have happened once in a thou- 
 sand years if I had not particularly wished to keep 
 dark. It 's confounded mean ! " 
 
 " I don't see what you should get so excited 
 for. What is the matter ? Oh, I see, Robert Kent : 
 you 're a clerk there ! " 
 
 " Of course I ami You might have seen that the 
 minute you stepped into the store." 
 
 "Bob, you haven't been suspended?" There 
 was intense anxiety in his twin's voice.
 
 RICH ENOUGH. 67 
 
 " Gracious ! how you girls do jump at conclu- 
 sions ! I may as well tell you all about it, as long 
 as you 've fallen on me in this way. I 'in glad it 
 was you, instead of any of the others." 
 
 "You know you would n't have kept it from me 
 two minutes the first time we met, so you need not 
 pretend. Do tell me quick. Is it anything very 
 bad?" 
 
 "Well, this is the way of it: While we were 
 ' economizing in some other way,' I ran up some 
 little bills for the various necessities of life, nothing 
 tremendous, you know, but counting up, and they 've 
 been worrying me like everything of late. I hated 
 to take them to father, and I could n't save enough 
 to clear them off. I was dreading January 1st more 
 than I can tell you, when I heard that Bangs & 
 Perry were going to open a place down here for the 
 holidays. It came to me in a flash that here was 
 my chance if I was quick enough, so I went right 
 to Mr. Bangs and told him the whole truth. Yes, I 
 did ! " as Betty gave a slight exclamation. " You 've 
 got to show that you need a place, to get it. Mr. 
 Bangs was all right, laughed, and said he wished his 
 son would take the same way to pay his bills ; 
 could n't be sure of giving me a chance, but he 'd 
 remember my name. Of course I thought he'd 
 forget all about me, but a couple of weeks ago came 
 a note telling me to call in. 
 
 Mr. Bangs has been just prime. I haven't had
 
 68 RICH ENOUGH. 
 
 to come until late in the morning, so I have n't lost 
 many recitations. I've brought him trade," and 
 Bob's eyes twinkled. " I let the boys get on to it, 
 and they 've swarmed over here. They come in 
 with the air of millionaires and ask for Mr. Kent, 
 and they 've bought lots of stuff. Why, Stewart has 
 put all his Christmas money into books, and he has 
 dozens of relatives. That part of it has been fun. 
 Here 's your car, and, Betty, don't say a word at 
 home." 
 
 Betty nodded acquiescence, and stepped into her 
 car. Bob had talked so fast she had had no oppor- 
 tunity to get in a word, even if she had wished to. 
 Bob a clerk ! She remembered now many little 
 indications which might have told her that some- 
 thing unusual was going on. He had hardly been 
 at home any of late, and had refused all evening 
 engagements. That ought to have made her sus- 
 picious, for he was n't enough of a dig to overwork 
 himself for examinations. 
 
 " And now," she thought, " he won't be able to 
 come to May's party. How disgusting ! " 
 
 " And he has given up all the fun without a 
 murmur, while I feel injured because I can have 
 only eight-button gloves. Oh, dear, why was n't the 
 unselfishness divided between us ? " 
 
 Betty's mind was certainly diverted from her 
 own trials by this encounter with her twin. 
 The next morning at breakfast she found a let-
 
 RICH ENOUGH. 69 
 
 ter from Bob at her plate. It began without cere- 
 mony : 
 
 " After all, Betty, I 'in glad that you know, for 
 now you can help me out. They '11 expect me to 
 be at home as soon as the term is out, and I can't, 
 you see. You '11 have to think up some reason for 
 it. I shall have Christmas Day, and New Year's, 
 that is, most of them. I shall be on hand to accept 
 father's usual little invitation, January 1st : 
 
 " ' My son, come into the library.' 
 
 " ' Yes, father.' 
 
 u ' What bills have you ? ' with a sigh. 
 
 " I shall produce my sheaf. He will turn pale, 
 take them, look them over, all receipted. He falls 
 on my neck, grand tableau ! 
 
 " Don't breathe a word, and keep the rest of the 
 family out of here. My twin, I am in thy hands. 
 
 " BOB. 
 
 " P. S. The last day I 'm here I 'm going to have 
 William brought in, by fair means or foul. I 'm 
 just living for that." 
 
 She was smiling to herself when Marian said : 
 " Who 's your letter from, Betty ? " 
 " From Bob." 
 Oh, read it ! " 
 " I can't ; Christmas secrets." 
 "When is he coming home?" asked Mr. Kent, 
 looking up from his paper.
 
 70 RICH ENOUGH. 
 
 There was little time for evolving an explanation, 
 and she said the first thing which came into her 
 head. 
 
 " That is part of the secret. It is all right," 
 nodding at her father as he looked at her inquir- 
 ingly. " Please trust us, and don't ask Bob why he 
 is n't coming home. He '11 be here for Sunday, I 
 think." 
 
 " Oh, how you two do love mystery ! " exclaimed 
 Marian ; while Mr. Kent smiled and said, " Well, if 
 you answer for Bob, we '11 ask no questions." 
 
 " There ! " she thought to herself ; " if I had n't 
 known, Bob would have kad no end of trouble to 
 explain himself. I hope he will realize now the 
 advantage of always confiding in me." 
 
 In her reply to Bob's note she dwelt so strongly 
 on this point that it gave him vast delight. 
 
 The night of the party came. Betty arrayed 
 herself in the Yintons' guest chamber without half 
 the anxiety one would have expected. She was 
 thinking of her beloved twin, and hardly looked at 
 her sleeves, which were now quite charming with 
 the satin ribbons let in. May, in her white gown 
 straight from Paris, came dancing into the room. 
 
 " Don't you want Maria to help you ? Oh, how 
 sweet your gown is ! Why, Betty, what did you 
 mean by saying you 'had n't anything fit to wear ? " 
 
 " Anything fit to associate with your Paris gown, 
 I said."
 
 RICH ENOUGH. 71 
 
 " Paris gown ! Look at that wrinkle under my 
 arm ! " and May twisted herself around before the 
 mirror until any gown would have wrinkled itself 
 in protest. 
 
 "That's right," said Betty: "if you haven't 
 any excuse for grumbling, make one. You know 
 you are as proud as a peacock." 
 
 They looked at each other and themselves in the 
 glass and laughed. 
 
 1 ' We set each other off very well," said May, 
 complacently. She looked like a white bird, with 
 her delicate complexion and light hair ; while 
 Betty's cheeks were rose tinted to match her gown, 
 and her brown eyes reflected the warm tone of her 
 hair. 
 
 Stout Mrs. Vinton, in black velvet, came hurry- 
 ing in. " Girls, girls, are n't you ready yet ? Some 
 one may come any minute, and Pinaud has n't sent 
 half enough lobster, I know, and the music is n't 
 here yet. I can't think what it means." 
 
 " Never mind ! it will all come out right," said 
 May, who was used to her mother's panics, and she 
 whirled Betty out of the room and down the stairs, 
 singing gayly. 
 
 The ballroom, with its beautiful decorations and 
 perfect floor, filled them with joyful anticipation, 
 and from the moment the first guest arrived, began 
 for both May and Betty " a gorgeous time," as 
 they would have expressed it.
 
 72 RICH ENOUGH. 
 
 While supper was being served, Bob appeared 
 before his twin, who was in the midst of a gay 
 group around the young hostess. May assailed 
 him with reproaches for being so late, while Betty 
 asked wickedly, 
 
 " What was the opera to-night ? " 
 
 Bob put on his most society air as he said : 
 " Really, Miss Vinton, my engagements are such, 
 now, that I can't give all my evening to one place, 
 don't you know ? " 
 
 Some of his classmates, who were near, and knew 
 his secret, laughed delightedly, while May was al- 
 most inclined to be hurt, until he dropped his voice 
 to a confidential whisper, and said, " I '11 explain by 
 and by. Now, am I to lead the German with you, 
 per agreement ? " 
 
 11 Why, 1 had given you up," said May, " and 
 asked Mr. Belknap." 
 
 " Oh, well, he '11 have to withdraw," said Bob, 
 cheerfully. "We can't have all our new figures 
 wasted. Of course I would come when we had a 
 solemn engagement. I '11 just fix it with Belknap ; " 
 and he drew that young man aside. He then pro- 
 ceeded to explain the figures they wanted, and 
 so thoroughly bewildered his substitute that the 
 latter finally begged to be relieved of the respon- 
 sibility, and thanked Bob gratefully when, after 
 some persuasion, he yielded to the request. 
 
 " Bob," said his sister, after Mr. Belknap had
 
 RICH ENOUGH. , 73 
 
 explained the situation to May, " you are the big- 
 gest fraud I know." 
 
 " Am I ? I simply used womanly tact ; " and 
 Bob walked away with a broad smile to organize 
 his forces. 
 
 Under his leadership the German was a joyous 
 revel, and, as Betty put it, " fitly crowned the even- 
 ing's bliss."
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 WHEN the Kents returned Mollie Penfield's 
 call, they found themselves in a parlor 
 which was at least twenty-five years behind the 
 times. A Brussels carpet sprinkled with big bou- 
 quets of flowers, heavy lambrequins at the win- 
 dows, and haircloth furniture adorned with an 
 assortment of tidies, had a very depressing effect 
 on the visitors. Betty looked really distressed. It 
 would have been an impossibility for her to live in 
 such a room. 
 
 But when the bright-faced Mollie came in, they 
 felt as if pity were unnecessary. She talked as if 
 housekeeping and taking care of small brothers 
 was the most delightful life possible. Her face 
 grew sober as she spoke of her mother, who was 
 unable to walk without help. 
 
 " But she is so cheerful all the time, we can't feel 
 as if she were an invalid. I want you to know 
 her; everybody loves her." 
 
 As they were leaving, she made them solemnly 
 promise that the first time their father stayed in 
 town over night, they would let her know of it, for 
 she wanted them to come to a picnic supper.
 
 RICH ENOUGH. 75 
 
 " What a horror of a room ! " said Betty, as they 
 left the gate. " And Mollie looks as if she ought 
 to have some taste." 
 
 " Don't you see how it is ? " Marian answered. 
 " The doctor furnished it when he was first mar- 
 ried, and they have never been able to do it over. 
 I suppose Mollie is so used to it, she does n't think 
 anything about it." 
 
 " How can she help thinking about it ? I 'd do 
 something, if it was only to cover things up with 
 five-cent calico in good colors." 
 
 The very next day Mr. Kent said, at dinner, 
 
 " I shall not come home to-morrow, so you had 
 better send for Bob to come out and stay over night." 
 
 " But we can't take tea with Mollie Penfield so 
 soon," was Betty's irrelevant response. 
 
 However, as they had " solemnly promised," 
 Marian sent over a little note by Ellen, and the 
 answer came back promptly : 
 
 " Perfectly delighted ! My ' big brother ' will 
 be here. Please bring yours." 
 
 They were at the door of the brown house very 
 punctually on Thursday, with Bob as escort, Will 
 having declined, as they thought he would. Evi- 
 dently some one was on the watch, for the door 
 flew open the moment they stepped up on the 
 piazza, and the hall seemed full of small boys, who 
 ushered them in a general way into the parlor. It 
 did not look so shabby by evening light as it did
 
 76 KICH ENOUGH. 
 
 the day before ; still, Betty was relieved when 
 Mollie appeared in the door, saying : 
 
 " Come right upstairs ; and here is my brother 
 Theodore, who will take care of Mr. Kent." This 
 was all the introduction which seemed necessary, 
 and they went up the narrow staircase together. 
 Opening from the first landing was a door through 
 which the young men disappeared. 
 
 " The boys' quarters," Mollie explained, as Betty 
 paused. " We go up higher, you see," she contin- 
 ued, as she took them into her own room. " The 
 floors of this part of the house are several feet 
 above the rest of it, so we have steps to tumble 
 up and down everywhere." 
 
 " How fascinating ! " said Marian. 
 
 " Not after you 've walked off into space a few 
 times," said Mollie. 
 
 " We are going to have tea in mother's sitting- 
 room, so she can come in and see us afterwards." 
 
 She led them along a narrow passage and opened 
 a door into a large room with dormer windows on 
 both sides. There were pots of flowers on every 
 sill, and white muslin curtains at the windows. 
 The furniture was covered with a light and pretty 
 chintz, and altogether the room was in great con- 
 trast to the house below. Betty exclaimed invol- 
 untarily, " How pleasant ! " 
 
 " 1 'm glad you like it," said Mollie, much 
 pleased. " This is where mother lives."
 
 RICH ENOUGH. 77 
 
 There was a large table, with a reading-lamp on 
 it, in the middle of the room, crowded with books 
 and newspapers. Around this the boys, big and 
 little, were already gathered, Bob and Theodore 
 deep in a discussion of " our crew," to which the 
 younger ones were giving eager attention. Theo- 
 dore was in business, but having graduated only 
 two years before, he was still a collegian in heart. 
 
 " We '11 have tea right away," said Mollie, briskly, 
 " and then we can get rid of the tables, and have 
 space to move in. Come, boys, go to work ; " and 
 she left the room. 
 
 Two of the boys began at once to clear off the 
 centre-table as a base of supplies, while the others 
 brought in small tables, and chairs, which they 
 arranged with great skill, showing it was no new 
 work for them. 
 
 Theodore, who was tall and light-haired and had 
 a look of Mollie, left as host, seated himself near 
 Marian, who was watching with amusement the 
 young Penfields as they placed the knives and forks 
 and plates with great precision. 
 
 " You see how Mollie trains the family," he said. 
 " Each one has his appointed task, and no one dares 
 to shirk." 
 
 " And what is your appointed task ? " 
 
 " To make myself agreeable to you," he said, with 
 a low bow. " How can I do it ? " 
 
 " You can answer all my questions," she said.
 
 78 RICH ENOUGH. 
 
 smiling at him. " For one thing, how docs your sis- 
 ter get such unquestioning obedience from you all ? " 
 
 Instead of answering in joke, as she expected, 
 Theodore said, quite seriously, 
 
 " By never shirking herself ; " and then he added, 
 with a twinkle in his eye, " We are very much alike ; 
 we move in parallel lines." 
 
 " Oh, you are a mathematician, are n't you ? 
 How can you like anything so dry as mathe- 
 matics ? " 
 
 " Don't call it dry, Miss Kent ! Our old professor 
 used to tell us that ' poetry is frozen mathematics.' " 
 
 " What did he mean ? " 
 
 " Why, he believed that the essential part of 
 poetry is the form, and the form is a mathemati- 
 cal construction." Warming to his subject, 
 Theodore demonstrated with great ardor and 
 clearness that form is the basis of art and music, 
 as well as of poetry, so that all three are con- 
 structed on mathematical principles just as truly 
 as a bridge or any kind of building. " We can't 
 see the framework as plainly, but it is there all the 
 same," he said, and he wound up triumphantly, 
 " You must admit that poetry is measured by feet." 
 
 " Well," said Marian, quite overcome by the 
 eloquence she had evoked, " whatever your pro- 
 fessor might say, he could n't make me believe that 
 there is any soul in mathematics." 
 
 " I believe he could," and Theodore turned
 
 RICH ENOUGH. 79 
 
 laughingly to Bob. " Kent, is n't Professor Raynor 
 a mathematical expression, and has n't he a soul ? " 
 
 " He 's all soul ! " responded Bob. " His head is 
 so in the clouds, he never knows where his feet are. 
 I 've seen him run into a post, and take off his hat 
 and apologize, and go right on murmuring to him- 
 self, ' Lines of force directed oppositely attract each 
 other ! ' " 
 
 " Oh, what stuff ! " said Betty. 
 
 " Yes, ' the stuff that dreams are made of/ I 
 refer you to the Psychical Society, where this case 
 is on record. Hypnotism through abstraction, I 
 believe they call it." 
 
 Mollie entered just then, bearing a great dish of 
 rolls, while behind her walked Lillian, her mass of 
 red-gold curls falling about her absorbed little face 
 as she watched the plate of honey which she carried. 
 
 The quantity of provisions which came up from 
 the kitchen seemed overwhelming to the Kents. 
 Betty thought there were a barrel of rolls and a 
 bushel of tongue sandwiches to start with. There 
 were delicious creamed oysters which Mollie had 
 prepared herself ; there was raised loaf cake, and 
 there were walnut jumbles ; there was chocolate 
 with whipped cream, and there were unlimited 
 pitchers of milk. It was not at all a fashionable 
 supper, but everything was so nice, the guests ate 
 with appetites which delighted their young hostess. 
 After the provisions had all disappeared, the
 
 80 RICH ENOUGH. 
 
 tables were whisked out, and the room returned to 
 its normal condition in short order. 
 
 " Now, I '11 go for mother," said Theodore ; and 
 he went out, followed by Lillian, while Mollie shook 
 up the cushions on the couch, and pulled the chairs 
 out of the way. In a moment Lillian opened the 
 door, and a tiny little woman came walking in, sup- 
 ported by Theodore's strong arm. She smiled on 
 them all, but did not speak until she was settled on 
 her couch. 
 
 " There," she said gayly, " the old lady is in 
 position now, ready to shake hands with our new 
 neighbors." 
 
 She looked like anything but an old lady with 
 her soft brown hair and pink-tinted cheeks, the 
 Rents thought, as they gathered about her and 
 were introduced by Mollie. The little mother had 
 a pretty word of welcome for each one of them. 
 " And now sit down," she said, " where I can see 
 you all." 
 
 " Sha'n't we tire you, so many of us at once ? " 
 asked Marian, taking a chair beside her. 
 
 " Oh, no, dear child ! Remember that I have 
 nine children, and seven of them boys ! " 
 
 " Poor abused little mammy ! " said Theodore, 
 sitting down on the edge of the couch, and taking 
 her delicate hand with great gentleness in his. 
 "Did she have a lot of horrid boys to plague 
 her?"
 
 RICH ENOUGH. 81 
 
 " Yes, she did," said his mother, with a mischie- 
 vous little laugh, " perfect torments." 
 
 " Now, mother, the proper repartee for that is, 
 1 perfect blessings.' Don't give Miss Kent such an 
 idea of your family ! What will she think of us ? " 
 
 " She will think you an impolite boy if you don't 
 bring some chairs for her sister and yours." 
 
 " Oh, I beg your pardon," said Theodore, spring- 
 ing to his feet. 
 
 " We can sit here," said Mollie, drawing Betty 
 down beside her on the end of the couch. Theodore 
 sat down on the floor, and the rest followed suit. 
 
 " Kent, tell mother that story about the Irish- 
 man and his chickens, that you told me before 
 supper." 
 
 So Bob with great willingness repeated his tale, 
 and they had a series of funny stories which made 
 the invalid laugh till the tears ran down her cheeks. 
 She was a good mimic herself, and her children 
 called for their favorite stories until she begged for 
 mercy. 
 
 " There, go away now," she said finally, " and 
 leave me to have a little restful conversation with 
 Miss Kent." 
 
 " Perhaps I 'd better carry you off to your room," 
 said Theodore. 
 
 " No, no ! I am not ready to go yet. Mollie, 
 can't you have some music ? It will not interfere 
 with our conversation." 
 
 6
 
 82 RICH ENOUGH. 
 
 u We '11 take ourselves off into the corner, any 
 way," giving her mother a kiss on the cheek. 
 
 Marian was left beside the couch, w T hile Mollie, 
 after settling the young boys around the big table 
 for a game of " Snap," took sleepy Lillian away to 
 bed. Theodore sat down at the old piano, which 
 was growing a little asthmatic from long service, 
 and began whistling college songs, Bob and Betty 
 coming in on the chorus. 
 
 Mrs. Penfield, not in the least disturbed by what 
 was going on around her, gave her attention entirely 
 to Marian. 
 
 " You do not know, my dear, what a perfect 
 blessing it is to Mollie that you have come out here 
 to live. She has brothers enough to keep her from 
 being lonely, but she hardly saw a girl of her own 
 age from one month's end to another, except her 
 mother," and she laughed merrily. 
 
 " What more could she ask ? " Marian said, with 
 a wistful look, which made the little mother put her 
 hand on hers as she said : 
 
 " There is no one who can fill that place, is there ? 
 I lost my own dear mother when I was a girl, and 
 I know just what it is. But I hope you will come 
 to Mollie's mother sometimes when you want a 
 little comforting." 
 
 Marian gave her hand a little squeeze, and Mrs. 
 Penfield went on : 
 
 " I wish you could see all of my children ! I 'm
 
 RICH ENOUGH. 83 
 
 proud of every one of them. My oldest boy, Earl, 
 is like his father, and would be a doctor. I thought 
 I should have him at home for a time, while he was 
 doing hospital work ; but an opening came for him 
 in Kansas City, and off he went, and now he must 
 needs marry, just as he 's getting well started, like 
 his father again ! " and she smiled playfully. 
 
 " My second boy, Howard, is an electrician in 
 Baltimore, and of course we expect him to be an- 
 other Tesla. The rest you see before you. Theo- 
 dore, Mollie, and between them and my baby 
 Lillian comes our ' sequence,' the four little boys 
 all in a row." 
 
 Then she led Marian to talk of her own brothers 
 and sister, and showed such a warm interest in 
 them, and seemed so anxious lest she should have 
 too much care and responsibility, that Marian's 
 heart went out to her. 
 
 " I believe in being young as long as you can," 
 Mrs. Penfield said ; " in fact, as long as you live. I 
 never mean to grow old, with all my boys to keep 
 me from it." 
 
 " And here comes the biggest boy of all," she 
 added, her face lighting up as the doctor entered the 
 room. He came to the couch and bent over his wife. 
 
 " How are you feeling, my dear ? Not getting 
 too tired ? Good evening, Miss Kent ; I am very 
 glad to see you here. We have to look out for this 
 wife of mine; her spirits outrun her strength."
 
 84 RICH ENOUGH. 
 
 " My dear," said his wife, " go over and sing with 
 the other young people. We are having a very quiet 
 time in this corner." 
 
 The big doctor obediently went over to the piano, 
 swept Theodore off the stool, and began to sing, in 
 a rich baritone voice, 
 
 " He was a foine old Irish gintleman, 
 One of the rale old stock." 
 
 Every one joined in the chorus, until the room 
 fairly rang. Then the Kents departed, all the Pen- 
 field boys acting as escort and singing a marching 
 song at the top of their lungs, until Marian thought 
 the old square would be scandalized. 
 
 " Did you ever see such a family ! " said Betty, 
 when they were inside their door. " They are all 
 boys and girls together. They must have an awfully 
 hard time to get along, and yet how jolly they 
 are ! " 
 
 " Just think of all those boys to educate ! " sighed 
 Marian. 
 
 " You need n't worry about that," said Bob. 
 " Theodore is earning ten dollars a week now, and 
 living on it. In a little while he '11 be able to help 
 on the next one, and that 's the way they '11 keep 
 going. They 're plucky all the way through ! "
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 first day of January found Southville deep 
 
 -L in snow. The great elm-trees were loaded 
 with feathery flakes, and the morning sun made 
 the square sparkle with beauty. Bob and Betty 
 stood looking out of the window after breakfast, 
 while their father sat comfortably by the fire, read- 
 ing his morning paper. 
 
 " The ancients," said Bob, didactically, " thought 
 of the mind as like that unbroken sheet of snow, 
 on which events would write their story. What, 
 Betty, is to be written on your mental tablet 
 this year? This is the moment, sister, for good 
 resolutions." 
 
 Betty made up a little face. " Resolved to have 
 the best time I can, in spite of circumstances ! I 've 
 been so good lately that I 'm positively tired of my- 
 self. I want to do something rash and reckless ; 
 and if you can't think of anything before night 
 comes, I don't know but I shall seek the stage." 
 
 " I '11 tell you what," said Bob : " I '11 take you on 
 a moonlight sleigh-ride. It'll be rash of me to 
 spend my last cent in that way, and reckless of you 
 to trust to my driving ; so it will fill both your 
 requirements."
 
 86 RICH ENOUGH. 
 
 " Lovely ! " said Betty. " Bob, you 're a dear ! " 
 
 "Behold, the head of the family retires to his 
 den!" said Bob, as Mr. 'Kent left the fireside and 
 went into his sanctum. " Now I 'm going out to 
 dig paths for an hour, and then I shall be ready for 
 my interview. Melodrama in one act : ' Father and 
 Son ; ' no audience." 
 
 " You won't rise to the occasion at all," said 
 Betty, " without an audience. Let me come in ! " 
 
 " No, indeed ! This is to be man to man. But 
 you may come out and help me shovel snow, if you 
 like." 
 
 " Thanks for your condescension, but I prefer to 
 watch you from this window." 
 
 But Betty could not resist, when the Penfields 
 turned out, and the snow began to fly in every 
 direction. In her golf cape, with its red-lined 
 hood, she added a bright bit of color to the land- 
 scape, and did what she considered effective ser- 
 vice, both in digging paths and in making a snow 
 man of heroic size. Mollie Penfield came out, and 
 they sang as they worked, until they brought some 
 one to the window of every house in the square. 
 
 " There ! " said Betty, complacently ; " we 've 
 waked people up ; now let 's have a snowball fight, 
 and give them something to see. You and I will 
 choose sides, Mollie, and you defend the snow man, 
 while I attack him with my forces.", 
 
 " Hear the new woman ! " cried Bob.
 
 RICH ENOUGH. 87 
 
 The small Penfields hurrahed, and began to 
 make snowballs with feverish energy. 
 
 " 1 choose my own brothers," said Mollie. " I 
 can order them about better." 
 
 " You can't have them all ! I '11 take Theodore ; 
 he and Bob will balance the sequence." 
 
 But they didn't. When the action began the 
 small Penfields were found to have a precision of 
 aim that their elders lacked ; and, stationed at the 
 four corners of the statue, with Mollie behind to 
 make snowballs and urge them on, they formed a 
 defence that the attacking party could not dislodge. 
 Betty laughed so that she was about useless, and 
 finally the other side took the offensive and ran the 
 challengers out of the square. 
 
 Mrs. Bassett was watching them from her back 
 window, and rushed to the door as they came flying 
 down toward the little house. 
 
 " Good ! good ! you college boys ain't in it when 
 it comes to snowballing, I guess. I've got some 
 soft cream molasses cakes in here, and " But 
 she did n't need to finish her sentence, for the re- 
 treating army fell upon her, swept her inside her 
 door, and bolted it before she knew just what had 
 happened. 
 
 Bob rushed through to lock the front door. 
 " Now for .the cakes ! " he cried ; and then the trio 
 derisively ate hot ginger-drops in the windows, 
 while the small boys danced with envy outside.
 
 88 RICH ENOUGH. 
 
 " You 're just a pack of children, all of you ! " 
 Mrs. Bassett declared, shaking with laughter; and 
 slipping out, she let in the rest of them, and did 
 not seem to mind a bit the hubbub which ensued, 
 though she finally made herself heard, saying : 
 
 " Now, I don't see why it ain't just as much fun 
 to make pretty noises as such outlandish ones. It 
 did sound real nice when you were singing outside, 
 and I wished then that you 'd sing some Christmas 
 carols. I have n't heard any since I was a girl." 
 
 " Why did n't we learn some for Christmas ? 
 "We might for Twelfth Night, ' better late than 
 never,' and go around the square like the waits 
 in England!" exclaimed Betty, inspired with the 
 thought of doing something new. 
 
 " That 's a beautiful idea," said Mrs. Bassett, 
 beaming with pleasure. " There 's a book right on 
 that marble-top table, with some queer old English 
 carols in it." 
 
 Betty pounced on the book and began turning 
 over the leaves. " Here, boys, stop eating, and 
 listen to this," and she read, 
 
 " ' God rest you merry, gentlemen, 
 Let nothing you dismay; 
 Remember Christ our Saviour 
 Was born on Christmas Day.' " 
 
 " Why, we know that," said Mollie. " Father 
 taught it to us long ago. Sing it, boys ! "
 
 RICH ENOUGH. 89 
 
 The little Penfields lifted up their voices, and 
 the quaint old carol filled the room. 
 
 Mrs. Bassett was enraptured, and Betty declared 
 that they would have rehearsals, and astonish The 
 Square. 
 
 " Now don't tell any one," she begged. " We 
 want it to be a perfect surprise." 
 
 " Well, if you can keep the secret, the rest won't 
 have any difficulty," said Bob. 
 
 " Go along ! " said Mrs. Bassett. " Your sister 
 ain't always so open as she seems." Which re- 
 mark sent Bob off into a peal of laughter, and he 
 waltzed Betty around the room until she was out of 
 breath. 
 
 " We must go home," she said, when he released 
 her. 
 
 " / must," he answered. " Good-by, Mrs. Bas- 
 sett. I shall never forget those molasses drops ! " 
 And he was out of the room before Betty realized 
 that he was gone. 
 
 " He wants to get rid of me," she said, " but he 
 sha 'n't ! " And giving Mrs. Bassett a hug, she 
 started for the door. " Good-by, all ; we '11 have a 
 rehearsal to-morrow." 
 
 Mr. Kent was sitting before his table when Bob 
 entered the room. He was surrounded by papers, 
 and was leaning his head on his hand in just the 
 weary way Bob had pictured him. But the reality 
 took away Bob's desire for dramatics. He suddenly
 
 90 RICH ENOUGH. 
 
 realized how often his father must have sat in just 
 this way, and what a care-worn life he had led, and, 
 forgetting his elaborate scheme, he said : 
 
 " Father, can't I help you ? " 
 
 Mr. Kent looked up almost impatiently. " No, 
 no ; I am only looking things over. You might 
 tell me what bills you have, though ; then I can 
 figure more closely." 
 
 Here was Bob's chance for a flourish ; but all he 
 did was to draw his little packet out of his pocket, 
 hand it to his father, and start precipitately for 
 the door. 
 
 " Wait a minute ! " said Mr. Kent, rather sharply. 
 " I may want you to explain something." 
 
 Then he began to look the bills over, with a 
 knotted forehead, while Bob stood and waited, 
 feeling unaccountably like a guilty schoolboy. 
 
 " What are these receipted for ? I have not paid 
 any of them." 
 
 " No ; but I have," said Bob, in his meekest voice. 
 
 " Where did you get the money ? " 
 
 I earned it." 
 
 " You earned it ! " Mr. Kent's face relaxed. 
 " How, by tutoring ? " 
 
 "No, sir; I'm not one of that kind. I went in 
 as extra salesman at Bangs & Perry's for the holi- 
 day trade." 
 
 " Well, well, Bob, you are quite a business 
 man," and Mr. Kent's eyes began to twinkle.
 
 RICH ENOUGH. 91 
 
 " How did Bangs & Perry happen to take you 
 on? Tell me about it." 
 
 " There is n't much to tell," said Bob. 
 
 " Yes, there is, too," said Betty, who walked in 
 without the ceremony of knocking, and who must 
 have been almost listening at the door. " Papa, 
 Bob felt so distressed over his extravagance, and 
 hated so to bring his bills to you, that he just went 
 off without saying a word, even to me, to take a 
 place in Bangs & Perry's holiday store, and he 's 
 worked like a Trojan for weeks. I happened to 
 find out about it ; " and she plunged into a lively 
 account of her discovery, during which Bob looked 
 silly, and her father turned the bills over slowly. 
 When she finished, he came around the table and 
 grasped Bob's hand, saying, " Thank you, my boy," 
 in a tone that caused Betty to feel in the way, and she 
 hastily left the room, shutting the door behind her. 
 
 She stood a moment in the middle of the parlor 
 floor, winking fast, and ejaculated, 
 
 " What stiff, funny things men are ! " Then she 
 went off to tell Marian all about it. 
 
 After Bob and Betty had started off with jingling 
 bells for their moonlight drive that evening, Mr. 
 Kent turned to his elder daughter. 
 
 " It 's too bad, my dear, for you to be left be- 
 hind. If I had nly thought of it in time, I 'd 
 have had a cutter myself." 
 
 " Why, you dear man ! We '11 come out and
 
 92 RICH ENOUGH. 
 
 have a walk instead," said Marian. " We can be 
 just as sentimental, and at the same time more 
 economical." 
 
 When they were pacing under the trees, Mr. 
 Kent said : 
 
 " I am very much pleased by what Bob has done, 
 Marian. In fact, my children are taking so much 
 care off my shoulders, I shall soon be as young as 
 any of them." 
 
 " How I wish we had begun before," Marian said 
 regretfully. " Then you would be the youngest of 
 us all now ; and you really do feel encouraged, 
 don't you, papa?" 
 
 " Yes, my dear, very much." 
 
 "Has it reduced our expenses a great deal to 
 come out here ? I do so hope it has ! " 
 
 Mr. Kent smiled indulgently upon her. " Con- 
 siderably, considerably ; but you must not expect 
 any startling gain all at once. Of course the 
 moving cost something, and I'm only just rid 
 of my town lease. But I 'm very hopeful for the 
 future," he added, as Marian's face fell. " If you 
 are all as careful through the year as you 've been 
 the past two months, we shall come out well. 
 
 " But you must n't let it weigh on you. I don't 
 like to have you getting quite so serious, my dear. 
 I don't want you to lose your* gay spirits. I was 
 very sorry to have you give up May Vinton's party. 
 Did n't you have a suitable dress ? "
 
 RICH ENOUGH. 93 
 
 " Why, papa, did you think of that ? I had n't 
 a gown, but I didn't mind one bit staying at 
 home." 
 
 " I know, I know ; and I appreciate the cheerful 
 spirit you show ; but I don't want you to lose any 
 more good times that you can possibly have. We 
 must economize in some other way." 
 
 " Oh, papa, that 's always been our motto," laughed 
 Marian. " But it 's lovely of you to want me to 
 have everything." 
 
 " You are a good daughter," said her father, pat- 
 ting her hand a little. " You deserve everything 
 lovely." Which remark so overwhelmed Marian 
 that she did not have any response to make. 
 
 When Twelfth Night came, whether or not The 
 Square had heard of the surprise in store for it, 
 the houses all seemed illuminated to an unusual 
 degree, and as the ten "waits" started out from 
 the Kent house, lights streamed across the snow 
 in every direction. Only the Copley house stood 
 dark and grim, and they instinctively hurried past 
 it, pausing first at the rectory. 
 
 The little group standing out in the snow made 
 an effective picture, the girls in their big capes, 
 with the pointed hoods pulled over their heads, in 
 the foreground. As the quaint old song, 
 
 " The first Xowell the angels did say 
 Was to certain poor shepherds in fields as they lay,"
 
 94 RICH ENOUGH. 
 
 rose on the still air, there was some movement 
 behind the curtains in the front room, but no 
 one appeared, even when the seven verses were 
 finished. 
 
 " They are looking in a book of etiquette to see 
 what to do," whispered Betty. " Let 's give them 
 another." 
 
 So they sang " The Seven Joys of Mary," at the 
 end of which the front door of the house swung 
 open, and the figure of the rector was silhouetted 
 against the light in the hall. Though younger 
 than his sisters, he was cast in the same formal 
 mould, and it was in very careful diction that he 
 expressed his gratification at this eminently suit- 
 able celebration of Twelfth Night. His sisters hov- 
 ered in the background as a kind of bodyguard. 
 
 The waits said " Thank you " in concert, in re- 
 turn for his polite remarks, and then passed on. 
 
 " Somehow, I feel depressed," said Bob. " I hope 
 Aunt Bassett won't be so fearfully polite." 
 
 The little house around the corner twinkled with 
 light, and Mrs. Bassett's head was out of her win- 
 dow at the very first note, while from another 
 window " Sister Sarah " applauded every song. 
 
 "Do sing as nice as you can when you get to 
 Madame Salisbury's ! " begged Mrs. Bassett. " It '11 
 be such a treat to her ! " 
 
 It was with rather a blank feeling that they 
 turned away, for visions of cookies and sweets
 
 EICH ENOUGH. 95 
 
 had been dimly floating through their sub- 
 consciousness. 
 
 " I must say," said Bob, " that I am disappointed 
 in The Square. I expected different treatment." 
 
 Theodore, who sang the solos, began to rebel. 
 
 " I can't sing all night without a little encour- 
 agement. Even a drink of cold water would be 
 gratefully received." 
 
 " You can get that at home," said Mollie, " as 
 we pass ; it 's always on tap there." 
 
 " When we are through, you know you are to 
 come into our house," Marian said hospitably. 
 
 Mrs. Penfield was in her window, and they sang 
 with all their hearts for her. They wound up with 
 the " Wassail Song," and rendered with great feel- 
 ing the verses : 
 
 " Call up the butler of this house, 
 Put on his golden ring ; 
 Let him bring us a glass of beer, 
 And the better we shall sing. 
 
 Bring us out a table, 
 And spread it with a cloth ; 
 Bring us out a mouldy cheese, 
 And some of your Christmas loaf." 
 
 But all they received was a shower of corn balls 
 from the doctor. 
 
 By the time they reached Madame Salisbury's 
 they were laughing and in high spirits.
 
 96 RICH ENOUGH. 
 
 " I hope the dear little lady has n't gone to bed," 
 said Marian. 
 
 " Mrs. Bassett said we must do our best here," 
 said Theodore. " Now, small fry, stop munching, 
 and sing for all you 're worth." 
 
 As this was the last house, they went through 
 all their repertoire. They ended with the 
 beautiful, 
 
 " From far away we come to you, 
 
 To tell of great tidings, strange and true," 
 
 and as the last note died away there was utter 
 silence for a moment. Then the door was thrown 
 wide open, and the ancient butler stood forth. 
 
 " Young ladies and gentlemen, Madame Salis- 
 bury begs that you will do her the honor to 
 come in." 
 
 They could hardly believe their ears, and hesi- 
 tated a moment, when he continued, 
 
 " She is waiting to receive you in the drawing- 
 room." 
 
 Then Marian led the way, and they all followed 
 her up the steps and into a brilliantly lighted room, 
 where the stately little mistress stood waiting for 
 her guests. 
 
 She advanced a step, and took Marian's hand, as 
 they all flocked in. 
 
 " You are very kind, my dear young neighbors^ 
 to bring back the pleasant past in this way, and I
 
 RICH ENOUGH. 97 
 
 hope that you will take some refreshment with 
 me." 
 
 " Oh, Madame Salisbury, it is too much trouble 
 for you ! " 
 
 " Not in the least ; it is a pleasure." Then, like 
 a royal personage, she gave her hand to each one. 
 
 " Theodore, will you give me your arm to the 
 dining-room?" and out she swept, while the little 
 party followed, quite awed by this reception. 
 
 The dining-room was lighted by candles on all 
 sides, and the table was set as if for an evening 
 party. There was a subdued murmur of delight 
 from all the young people, and Betty exclaimed : 
 
 " Why, there is a veritable Twelfth Night cake ! 
 You must have known that we were coming, 
 Madame Salisbury ! " 
 
 The little lady smiled. " There are fairies 
 abroad at this time of year, Miss Betty, who whis- 
 per many secrets." 
 
 The Twelfth Night cake, with its tiny Christ- 
 mas tree in the centre, and the little king, queen, 
 and knave standing around the edge of it, had the 
 post of honor on the table ; but there were all sorts 
 of delicious dishes grouped around it, and the fra- 
 grance of coffee was in the air. 
 
 " How lovely of you, Madame Salisbury ! " Mollie 
 said, as she took her place beside the hostess. " We 
 were all so hungry ! " There was such a plaintive 
 note in her voice that they all laughed, and 
 
 7
 
 98 RICH ENOUGH. 
 
 Madame Salisbury graciously bade the young gen- 
 tlemen wait on the ladies at once, while the butler 
 devoted himself to supplying the wants of the 
 small Penfields. 
 
 " What is the meaning of the cake ? " Theodore 
 asked Betty in an aside. "You seem to know 
 something about it." 
 
 " Why, there is a bean, a pea, and a clove in the 
 cake. Whoever gets the bean is king. If you get 
 the clove, you are the knave ; I suppose that means 
 you 're the king's fool, and plan the revels. The 
 girl who gets the pea is queen. Is n't that it, 
 Madame Salisbury ? " seeing that she was 
 listening. 
 
 "Yes, my dear, queen of the kingdom of mis- 
 rule until Candlemas ; so it 's a position of power. 
 When I was a girl, we kept Christmas time in the 
 old way, and many were the madcap pranks we 
 played." 
 
 " 01?, tell us all about it ! " begged Betty. 
 
 " No, indeed ; you modern young people need 
 no suggestions in the way of mischief." 
 
 But they were so persuasive that Madame Salis- 
 bury yielded, and gave them some reminiscences 
 which might well have found a place among the 
 tales of Irving. 
 
 Then she cut the cake, and the three girls drew 
 lots for the queenship ; but to the delight of her 
 guests and her chagrin, the hostess found the pea
 
 RICH ENOUGH. 99 
 
 in her own piece of cake. The bean fell to Bob, 
 who bent the knee and kissed her hand in true 
 knightly fashion, while Betty elected herself maid 
 of honor. She was charmed with Madame Salis- 
 bury, and the flavor of old-time aristocracy about 
 her house. 
 
 When Frank Penfield found the clove, and 
 brought it to his big brother, the queen would not 
 allow him to give it up, as that would spoil the 
 charm. Frank felt delightfully important and un- 
 comfortable in consequence. 
 
 Bob assumed kingly airs with great ease, and 
 ordered his subjects about, abetted by his queen, who 
 proved to be full of fun in her own way. And 
 then, with many an oath of fealty, her new court 
 dispersed. 
 
 " I just felt so mean not to invite you in," Mrs. 
 Bassett said next day, when she ran in to hear about 
 it ; " but I did n't want to spoil Madame Salisbury's 
 party, when she 'd made up her mind to do the 
 handsome thing." 
 
 " Then you told her ! " cried Betty. 
 
 " There ! " said Mrs. Bassett, putting her hand 
 over her mouth. " I never meant to let you know. 
 I only passed a remark, thinking no harm would 
 be done either way, and it has turned out real nice 
 all round ! "
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 AFTER Twelfth Night the days settled down 
 into a routine which proved rather trying to 
 the sisters. Marian was ashamed to find how 
 much she missed the variety and excitement of 
 their former life ; the constant ringing of the door- 
 bell, the dropping in of their friends at lunch time, 
 with unexpected tickets for a matinee or plans for 
 an impromptu German. She had time now for all 
 the reading she wished to do, but often she was 
 not in the mood for reading, and the evenings 
 seemed very long. 
 
 They were not forgotten, as the daily cards and 
 invitations showed ; but, as Betty said, they were 
 not on the main line any more : they were side- 
 tracked, and people could n't keep backing down 
 to their station to pick them up. 
 
 At last Betty rebelled openly. 
 
 " I 'm not going to stand this," she declared one 
 day. " We 're dropping out of everything. We 
 lose all sorts of nice things by being at this dis- 
 tance, and when we do get there, they 're all talk- 
 ing about things we 're not in. It 's just ruining 
 my character. I thought I should be on a high
 
 RICH ENOUGH. 101 
 
 plane if we gave up everything and came out here 
 to live, but 1 'm growing envious, and suspicious, 
 and mean. I feel now as if the girls just asked me 
 to he kind to me. When you get so far down as 
 to think of car fare, you 're not fit for society, any 
 way. I was actually thrilled with gratitude when 
 May drove me home yesterday, because it saved me 
 five cents. I am getting too sordid to enjoy any- 
 thing. Dear me ! why was n't I born with a 
 vocation ? If I were a self-supporting woman, I 
 should n't care whether I was in society or not. 
 Could n't I be a nurse, or a type-writer or some- 
 thing?" 
 
 " Especially the something! " said Bob, to whom 
 this tirade was addressed. 
 
 " Now, don't try to be funny ! I 'm really serious. 
 You don't know what it is to feel so helpless, just 
 as if Fate had put you down in one grubby little 
 spot, and you would keep going round and round in 
 it all the rest of your life." 
 
 " Poor Betty ! " and Bob went over and sat down 
 by the dismal little heap in the corner of the sofa. 
 
 " Can't you can't you " and he wrinkled 
 his brow perplexedly. 
 
 " No, I can't ! There is n't anything I can do. 
 I have n't a single talent. Think of Amy Starr, 
 and the voice she is developing! And there's 
 Florence, starving herself in Paris, and just ns 
 happy as a clam, and going to be a great artist
 
 102 RICH ENOUGH. 
 
 some day ; and Caroline Wright, with her whole 
 soul absorbed in bacteria ! Oh, I realize that I 'm 
 just a commonplace little know-nothing! I might 
 be a cash girl or a waitress, I suppose, but I 'm not 
 brave enough to go out and do what I could do." 
 
 " With three men in your family, I don't see why 
 you should support yourself," Bob said, rather 
 grandly. 
 
 " Well, I 've got to do something" said Betty, 
 desperately. " 1 'm not going to sit down and 
 lapse into utter stupidity without a struggle ! " 
 
 " Well, well, well ! " exclaimed Marian, who had 
 come in just in time for Betty's last words, " what 
 is all this?" 
 
 " Betty is on a strike, that 's all ! " answered 
 Bob. 
 
 " Yes, I am ! It 's time to make an effort. 
 You 're just settling down, Marian, and I won't 
 have it ! " 
 
 " What do you want me to do ? " asked Marian, 
 meekly. 
 
 " Be yourself ! " returned Betty, energetically. 
 " You are getting so you read and think all the 
 time, and you 're so mum there 's no living with 
 you. I want to have a good time, and you 've got 
 to help! We must entertain some. We'll have 
 a day ; for of course people are n't coming way 
 out here on the chance of finding us in, and we '11 
 have chafing-dish evenings. We can invite the
 
 RICH ENOUGH. 103 
 
 girls in twos and threes, and we '11 have them 
 on Saturdays, for that would be a good night" for 
 Bob's friends, would n't it?" she demanded of her 
 brother; and then, without waiting for his reply, she 
 continued, " We '11 begin next week. I 'm going 
 to hare a lunch party, too, for my particular 
 friends, and I should think you would for yours, 
 Marian." 
 
 " But, child ! " gasped her sister, " lunches and 
 all those things are frightfully expensive." 
 
 " They need n't be. I believe in being consist- 
 ent, and a swell lunch would n't go with our old 
 house and ways of living. I am going to have a 
 homemade lunch, and you can do the same. It 
 will be lots more fun than a regulation affair. 
 You have n't half the imagination that I should 
 think you 'd have. We can't be elegant, so we 
 ought to be picturesque ; don't you see ? " 
 
 " Well, Betty, you 've found your vocation ! " and 
 Bob went off, inwardly much amused at the turn 
 Betty's strike" had taken. 
 
 Betty took the helm decidedly in the days that 
 followed. She gave her luncheon, which she de- 
 cided to call a breakfast, and serve at twelve 
 o'clock. It began with fruit a la mode, and ended 
 with waffles and maple syrup a la Mrs. Bassett. 
 
 " Now, don't you worry one mite," that kind- 
 hearted woman said. " If there 's one tiling I know, 
 it 's waffles, and you need n't give your company
 
 104 RICH ENOUGH. 
 
 much to eat before they come on, for they '11 grudge 
 every bit of space they 've filled up ! " 
 
 So she presided in the kitchen, and it seemed to 
 Ellen and herself as if the capacity of those twelve 
 girls was unlimited. 
 
 There was only one girl of them all who thought, 
 " How queer ; " and the rest, who said " How jolly," 
 or " How original," were of so much more un- 
 doubted social importance that that one kept her 
 opinion to herself. 
 
 Everything in the old house was pronounced 
 "dear" and "fascinating," as the guests roamed 
 about at will and lingered around the big fire- 
 places, and it was late in the afternoon when they 
 finally tore themselves away. 
 
 The fame of the chafing-dish evenings so spread 
 abroad that invitations never went begging. 
 Betty's friends were ready at any time to give up 
 an evening in town for one of these informal ban- 
 quets, and Bob's chums were devoted attendants. 
 Even Will thought it worth his while on several 
 occasions to take out some of his friends. 
 
 Betty was pluming herself on their success one 
 morning in " Cosey Corner." 
 
 " I do think," she said, " that we deserve some 
 credit for the way we are keeping up now. By a 
 determined effort, we are having almost as good a 
 time as if we were in town, and we are also doing 
 our duty."
 
 RICH ENOUGH. 105 
 
 Marian laughed a little. " We are being dread- 
 fully selfish. We just live for ourselves." 
 
 Betty, comfortably settled among the cushions 
 on the big couch, did not rouse one bit at this 
 accusation. 
 
 " I never worked harder myself," she said mis- 
 chievously. " These home evenings are no joke, 
 and what with housework and sewing, my hands 
 are a disgrace," and Betty held up a forefinger 
 that was somewhat roughened. " But what great 
 thought is roaming around in your mind now?" 
 
 " I 've been trying to think of one really unselfish 
 thing that I ever did for any one outside of the 
 family, and I can't ! " 
 
 " Why, Marian Kent, what an idea ! " 
 
 " Well, it 's true. And I suppose we can get so 
 absorbed in trying to be economical, and to keep up 
 a good appearance, that we sba'n't do anything 
 else." 
 
 " But what do you want to do ? " asked Betty. 
 
 " I don't know, exactly. I should like to feel " 
 Marian hesitated and flushed "thinking of all 
 the people about us, I should like to feel as if some 
 one was a little happier for our living here." 
 
 " Well, are n't they ? Don't the Penfields have 
 a great deal better time because we are here ? And 
 does n't Madame Salisbury enjoy us ? She says 
 she does." 
 
 " Oh, Betty, you know I don't mean that ! All
 
 106 RICH ENOUGH. 
 
 these people are congenial. We don't go out of 
 our way to give them pleasure. Think of Mollie 
 Penfield, now! With all she has to do at home, 
 she is just devoted to that mission class of hers, 
 and goes to see them, and has a party for them 
 every year. Her own trials just seem to increase 
 her interest in other people's." 
 
 " I don't think we are any worse than most 
 people, but here comes Mollie ; we '11 see what 
 she has to say. 
 
 " Come right up ! " she called down, as the out- 
 side door opened. " Marian is holding you up as 
 a pattern girl, and you ought to hear her." 
 
 Mollie ran up the stairs, looking so fresh that no 
 one would have suspected that she had been up 
 since daylight doing the Saturday baking. She now 
 had her sewing, and had come over to rest awhile. 
 
 " You dear, sweet thing ! " said Betty. " You 
 make me feel like the laziest thing on earth. 
 You 've done a day's work already, while I have n't 
 done a thing but eat my breakfast." 
 
 Mollie settled herself in the window with a con- 
 tented smile. 
 
 " Oh, I 'm glad every one is n't busy in this 
 world ! There would be no one glad to see us when 
 we had time to breathe a little. If I knew you 
 were tremendously rushed every minute, I should n't 
 dare to come over and interrupt you." 
 
 " Now there 's an idea, I declare, Marian ! " and
 
 RICH ENOUGH. 107 
 
 Betty looked wickedly at her sister. " It would n't 
 be a bad mission in life to be so at leisure that 
 every one would feel sure of a welcome from you 
 and find it a rest to come and see you." 
 
 "You couldn't be a society woman, then," said 
 Mollie ; " society women are too busy rushing about 
 in their own orbits to be restful." 
 
 " Or a philanthropist," put in Marian ; " because 
 then you " 
 
 " 4 Could n't be fooling round home ! ' : ' quoted 
 Betty. " Mollie, tell us what your ideal life would 
 be ! I don't believe you have an envious thread in 
 you, and you are so wholesome ! " 
 
 Molly laughed merrily at Betty's odd compliment. 
 
 " Well, I should like money enough so that all 
 the boys could be well educated, and " 
 
 " Oh, I mean for yourself." 
 
 " I don't know, exactly." 
 
 " Oh, yes, you do. Would you want to be very 
 rich?" 
 
 " I 'm afraid I 'm not ambitious," said Mollie. 
 " I should n't know how to act if I were suddenly 
 made very rich. So I think I would rather begin 
 in a simple way, have a little house and look 
 after it myself, and a few friends, and time for 
 reading and the things I can never do now." 
 
 " You 'd make a dear little home," said Betty ; 
 " but you have n't told us the kind of man you 
 would be willing to economize for."
 
 108 KICH ENOUGH. 
 
 < _ 
 
 Mollie colored a little. 
 
 " Why, of course for any man she loved," Marian 
 interposed. 
 
 "/wouldn't," declared Betty, " though I know 
 it's beautiful to be an inspiration, and help along a 
 struggling young man ! I am just as different from 
 Mollie as I can be. She will be so unselfish, she 
 will just spoil that husband of hers ; while 1 shall 
 be so selfish myself that my husband will grow into 
 a perfect saint. It will be much better for him ! " 
 
 " Oh, Betty, don't malign yourself so ! " 
 
 " It 's the sad truth. I 've had all the struggles 
 I want in my youth, and I don't think they have 
 improved me. But, to come back to the point, 
 Marian is struck with a vague yearning to do or 
 be something to somebody outside of the family. 
 With some girls that might look suspicious, but 
 with her I think it is only charity work she craves. 
 Can't you suggest something, Mollie ? " 
 
 " Betty, don't be so unsympathetic ! " Marian 
 looked really hurt, and Betty, seeing it, jumped up 
 from her seat and gave her an impetuous embrace. 
 
 " There, I '11 be nice, now ; but I don't see just 
 what we are to do." 
 
 " Neither do I ; " and Marian could not help 
 laughing a little. 
 
 " Plenty of work at our mission," suggested 
 Mollie. 
 
 " No, thank you ! " said Betty. " I refuse to do
 
 KICH ENOUGH. 109 
 
 anything so commonplace. Show me an original 
 lino of work, and perhaps I '11 go into it." 
 
 " Like cheese fondue," said Mollie, with a laugh, 
 and so the talk turned to the coming evening, and 
 Marian's vague longings were forgotten. 
 
 " I believe I like informal things best, after all," 
 said Betty the next morning, " and when we give 
 our party, we '11 have it just as simple and jolly as 
 possible." 
 
 " Our party ! " repeated Marian. 
 
 " Yes, ' our party.' You don't suppose I 'm 
 going through the season without a dance of my 
 own, when I 've been invited to so many ! I have 
 it all planned in my mind. We '11 have it on Feb- 
 ruary 22d, and wear old-fashioned gowns. Mollie 
 Penfield can come then, because she has the dear- 
 est old gown of her grandmother's, and you know 
 she never could afford a new modern party gown." 
 
 " Then this is to be a coming-out party for Mollie 
 Penfield ? " 
 
 " Partly. I would just love to see her having an 
 awfully good time once all for herself, she is such a 
 dear, unselfish thing."
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 WHEN Betty proposed her plan for Wash- 
 ington's Birthday to her father, he agreed 
 to it without a murmur. 
 
 " Have a dance if you want to, my dear ! I can 
 trust you, in these days, not to spend any more than 
 is necessary." 
 
 " You shall find that your trust is not misplaced," 
 said Betty, impressively, as she gave him a fervent 
 embrace. 
 
 Marian resigned herself to the inevitable with 
 quite a thrill of pleasure, and, to Betty's delight, 
 entered into the preparations with an interest 
 almost equal to her own. They made little cases 
 in pretty shapes for the ices, and decided to make 
 even the ices at home. And then Marian painted 
 some tiny American flags on white ribbon to stand 
 up in the middle of them. With the help of the 
 Penfield boys, Betty found her decorations in the 
 woods, and the amount of " green stuff " that they 
 brought into the house filled Ellen with astonish- 
 ment and dismay. Finally Betty had the " cutest 
 idea" for a favor figure. "We'll just have one 
 after supper," she said. " Marian, we are going to 
 be so original we shall kill ourselves ! "
 
 RICH ENOUGH. Ill 
 
 " Oh, we expect that," Marian said ruefully. 
 
 Betty insisted on inviting Madame Salisbury to 
 receive the guests. " She will give the finishing 
 touch, and I know she will like it." 
 
 Madame Salisbury had shown a kindly interest in 
 her young neighbors ever since Twelfth Night. 
 Betty had found the way into her heart, and 
 flashed in and out of the stately old house like 
 a sunbeam. The request that she would chaperon 
 their party did almost take Madame Salisbury's 
 breath away, but Betty's pleadings were not to be 
 resisted, and when the evening came she arrayed 
 herself in her ancient finery with quite a degree of 
 excitement. She was a picture in her quaint 
 embroidered satin gown, with her hair puffed high 
 and crowned with feathers, as she sat enthroned 
 in the chair of state. 
 
 " You are the real thing," Betty said, " and 
 show us what poor imitations we are." 
 
 Madame Salisbury looked about her in a queenly 
 little way. 
 
 " J am quite satisfied with my maids of honor," 
 she said. 
 
 Marian looked like a youthful Martha Washing- 
 ton, Betty like a French marquise. Mollie, in her 
 grandmother's wedding gown, was a fresh-cheeked 
 Puritan maiden. Mr. Kent, with his powdered 
 wig and white ruffles, had put on the gallant 
 manners that went with them ; but Bob flew about
 
 112 RICH ENOUGH. 
 
 in a most unbecoming way, his queue standing 
 straight out behind as he whisked Mollie around in 
 a preliminary waltz. 
 
 Marian stopped him in mid-career. " What did 
 Will say about coming ? " she asked. 
 
 " He seemed to think it was such child's play 
 that I don't believe he will come." 
 
 " I think he might have stood by us ; " and 
 Marian looked grieved. 
 
 " It 's his own loss if he does n't come," said 
 Bob, stoutly. 
 
 " Hullo ! there 's my crowd," as a horn was heard 
 outside ; and amidst much noise and commotion 
 a tallyho drew up at the door. 
 
 Madame Salisbury was reminded of the old coach- 
 ing days, but it is probable that the laughing young 
 people who were soon presented to her were far 
 from having the manners of the olden time, though 
 clothed in antique garb. 
 
 " However, the bewigged and beruffled youths, 
 and the maidens with their high heels and powder, 
 were well content with themselves and one another, 
 and formed picturesque groups around the fire- 
 places and through the rooms. 
 
 " But where are we to dance ? " May finally 
 asked. 
 
 " It does look crowded," answered Betty, with a 
 merry smile ; " perhaps it would be better not 
 to try."
 
 EICH ENOUGH. 113 
 
 But at sight of the disappointed faces around her, 
 she thought the time had come to reveal her grand 
 secret. 
 
 " All who want to dance, follow me," she said, 
 raising her voice. The invitation was repeated 
 through the rooms, and as Betty started up the 
 stairs, nearly the whole party trooped after her. 
 
 She led the way across the upper hall to a door, 
 which creaked as she opened it, and immediately 
 there was a sound of music from above. Up 
 another stairway went Betty, with her guests in a 
 flock behind her. As they emerged into the attic 
 an exclamation of delight burst from them all. It 
 was one of those noble old attics in which one could 
 stand erect under the very eaves, and where the 
 roof lost itself in the shadows overhead. The long 
 rafters were festooned with pine and laurel, and 
 hung with tiny lanterns. Big lamps, screened by 
 pink muslin, placed here and there amidst the green 
 branches around the room, shed a soft brilliance 
 through it. 
 
 The great chimney was almost concealed by a 
 grove of hemlocks, and from the cavernous depths 
 of the huge fireplace, once used for smoking hams, 
 came the sound of the fiddle and the bow. There 
 was a cherry-tree in full bloom opposite the fire- 
 place, which aroused admiring wonder. Some of 
 the girls declared that the fragrance was delicious, 
 until they learned it was another of Betty's sur-
 
 114 RICH ENOUGH. 
 
 prises, and that the blossoms were made of tissue 
 paper ! " To be explained hereafter," she said. 
 The dancing began at once with great spirit, with 
 Bob as master of ceremonies. 
 
 Marian stayed down stairs to look after the 
 belated arrivals. Mr. Kent was devoting himself 
 to Madame Salisbury, as was also Colonel Hun- 
 tington, an old friend of the family and Marian's 
 godfather, while a few young people, who preferred 
 conversation to dancing, prevented the rooms from 
 looking too deserted. 
 
 Suddenly there was a ring at the bell, and, as 
 Ellen opened the door, Marian caught a glimpse of 
 her Aunt Cornelia Dwight. 
 
 ? What could be the matter ! " She sprang into 
 the hall. " Why, Aunt Cornelia ! " 
 
 Aunt Cornelia walked in with her head held 
 high. Of course she knew there was a party, 
 and of course she pretended she did not. She 
 had n't been invited, because she had not once 
 been out to see them since they left the city. 
 Nevertheless, hearing accidentally of the dance, 
 she had been thoroughly angry, and had deter- 
 mined to confront her nieces in the midst of their 
 iniquity. 
 
 Aunt Cornelia looked around her majestically. 
 
 " Do I understand that there is a party going on 
 here?" 
 
 " Yes," said Marian, " a little dance for Betty."
 
 RICH ENOUGH. 115 
 
 " It must be something you are ashamed of, 
 since you concealed it from your nearest relative." 
 
 She stood up stiff and straight in the hall. 
 
 " We did not know that you cared for dancing," 
 Marian said, forced to the defensive. " But won't 
 you come up and take off your things ? " 
 
 Aunt D wight held her ground. " Of course you 
 would prefer having no chaperon, but I consider it 
 disgraceful." 
 
 " Madame Salisbury was kind enough to chaperon 
 us, and Mrs. Jack Gilman is upstairs dancing," said 
 Marian, briefly. 
 
 " Madame Salisbury ! " repeated Aunt Dwight in 
 an altered tone. " Is she here ? " 
 
 Marian waved her hand toward the parlor. 
 
 Aunt Dwight's lorgnette was hastily raised. 
 
 " Colonel Huntington, too ? " 
 
 " They will be very glad to see you. Madame 
 Salisbury has often wondered that you have not 
 been out here," Marian could not resist saying. 
 
 " Oh, I can explain that. My wretched health, 
 my many engagements," and Aunt Cornelia sped 
 upstairs, arranged her plumage, which, when her 
 cloak was removed, proved to be quite suitable for 
 a party, and sailed down again with all her best 
 manners on. 
 
 How feelingly she thanked Madame Salisbury for 
 her kindness to her dear nieces, and how she be- 
 wailed her inability to be with them more !
 
 116 RICH ENOUGH. 
 
 Colonel Huntington could hardly wait for her to 
 get through with her polite speeches. 
 
 " Why can't we have an old-fashioned rubber of 
 whist," he asked, " while the young people are 
 dancing ? " 
 
 Madame Salisbury was nothing loath, whist being 
 her favorite game ; so Marian, after seeing the four 
 seated contentedly at a table, slipped away to see 
 how the dancing was coming on. 
 
 Meanwhile, where was Will ? He had not entered 
 into the project of a party with the least interest. 
 He thought the idea of dancing in the attic was 
 silly. " Better do nothing, unless you can do a 
 thing handsomely," he had said. Nevertheless, they 
 had all thought that at the last moment he would 
 appear. 
 
 " Just to say, ' I told you so ! ' " Betty remarked. 
 
 But the evening came, and he sat before his fire 
 in his smoking-coat, looking as if he had not the 
 slightest intention of seeing Southville that night. 
 In upon him rushed suddenly an old friend. 
 
 u Oh, Kent, then I 'm in time ! May I go with 
 you?" 
 
 " Hullo, Jack ! Go where ? " 
 
 " Why, out to your sister's party. I don't wonder 
 you look surprised," a flush rising in his cheeks, 
 " but I 've been seeing a lot of your brother Bob 
 lately, splendid chap, and he told me to come 
 along. Thought I could n't, but I 'in suddenly taken
 
 KICH ENOUGH. 117 
 
 with a strong desire for a little fun. May I go with 
 you ? " 
 
 " Why, of course," said Will, rising slowly ; " got 
 any togs ? " 
 
 " Yes ; old Bill is out here with some continentals 
 for me to try. We ought to hurry." 
 
 Will did not like to say that he had no costume. 
 (Hd Bill came in with a pile of garments over his 
 arm. He was the favorite costumer of the college 
 men, and in the drawers of his shabby little shop 
 had a surprising array of costumes hidden away. 
 
 He held out for their inspection a true British red 
 coat. 
 
 "That's good," said Will. "I wish you had an- 
 other like it. It would n't be half bad to appear 
 before Lady Washington as General Gage and 
 another of those fellows." 
 
 " Here you are, then," said Bill ; " brought along 
 two sizes for fits." 
 
 " Capital ! " Jack said. " Have you all the fix- 
 ings ?" 
 
 " Yes, sir ! " 
 
 Old Bill was never caught unprepared. With his 
 help two fine officers were soon made up, and they 
 had just as much fun over it as any two girls. 
 
 When Generals Gage and Howe were announced, 
 Madame Salisbury rose to the occasion. 
 
 " Gentlemen," she said, " you have voluntarily 
 placed yourselves in the hands of the enemy, and
 
 118 RICH ENOUGH. 
 
 deserve mercy. Therefore we will spare your lives, 
 and only condemn you to confinement in the 
 attic." 
 
 The British officers appeared in the ballroom 
 just as two circles of dancers were whirling around 
 the chimney. Bob was winding up a quadrille in a 
 masterly manner. Now at a word the circles broke 
 up into couples and went waltzing away in all 
 directions. 
 
 Betty was the first to spy the new-comers, and 
 came whirling up with a saucy welcome on her lips. 
 Jack Duncan began to explain his appearance, while 
 Will surveyed the ballroom, which he had to con- 
 fess was very picturesque. 
 
 " Why did n't you tell me the Van Noble girls 
 were to be here ? " he asked, as Jack turned away 
 to find Marian. 
 
 " We did not wish to influence you by ulterior 
 motives ! " returned Betty. 
 
 Jack and Marian were both a little constrained 
 at meeting, but as he almost immediately asked her 
 to dance, they glided over the first awkwardness 
 very well. 
 
 As the dance ended, Marian said she must go 
 downstairs. 
 
 " May I go with you ? " 
 
 " What, take you away from all these girls ? 
 Never ! " Marian said gayly, her foot already on the 
 first step.
 
 KICH ENOUGH. 119 
 
 " Then I '11 come without permission," and, with 
 the true British spirit, General Gage followed his 
 hostess down. Cosey Corner was occupied ; the 
 whist players were still absorbed ; they were evi- 
 dently not wanted in the study. Marian went into 
 the dining-room, on the pretext of giving some 
 directions to Ellen, Jack following. 
 
 " Why can't we sit down here ? " inquired the 
 general. 
 
 " Then you will know just what we are to have 
 for supper ! " 
 
 " I won't tell anybody, and I want to talk to you 
 about your brother." 
 
 " My brother ? " repeated Marian, looking a little 
 startled. 
 
 " Oh, it 's nothing to look serious over. I only 
 wanted to tell you what a fine fellow your brother 
 Bob is. I never knew him until this year, since 
 we 've been doing mission work together, and he 
 has told me a lot of things about you." 
 
 " Bob doing mission work ! " Marian was so 
 taken by surprise that she forgot her stiffness. 
 
 " Did n't you know it ? " Jack asked, surprised 
 in his turn. " Then don't let him know I 've given 
 him away." 
 
 " I won't ; but do tell me something about it. 
 Bob is coming out in a new light this winter." 
 
 " Why, he 's helping me at my club. He has 
 charge of the gymnastics, and his classes are the
 
 120 RICH ENOUGH. 
 
 most popular ones we have. He seems to know just 
 how to get at the men and boys, and they all swear 
 by him." 
 
 " How strange that he has n't told us a word 
 of it ! Where is your club, and what do you do 
 there ?" she asked, with such interest that he gave 
 her an enthusiastic description of what they were 
 trying to do for the boys of Rocky District. 
 
 " We are getting at the older people, too, through 
 the boys," he said. " The fathers and mothers 
 are curious to see what it is that the children find 
 so attractive. We always make them welcome, 
 though we don't always know just what to do with 
 them. Miss Kent," with a sudden inspiration, 
 " why won't you come with Bob sometimes, and try 
 your hand at the mothers ? It would be such a help ! 
 Do come ! " and he looked very persuasive. 
 
 " Why, I should like to," she said, with a bright 
 face. Perhaps this was the opportunity to be of 
 some use for which she had been longing. 
 
 " But don't you think I am too frivolous for that 
 sort of work ? " She looked at him with a direct 
 gaze, though she spoke laughingly. 
 
 " Of course I don't ! " indignantly. 
 
 " You did think so last winter, though, did n't 
 you ? " There was a mischievous light in her eyes 
 as she asked the question. 
 
 " A little so, perhaps," he admitted unwillingly, 
 the color rising in his face.
 
 RICH ENOUGH. 121 
 
 " "Well, I'm going to be frank enough to tell you, 
 Mr. Duncan, that my vanity received a great shock 
 when I found that you had changed all your plans 
 without telling me anything about it. I supposed 
 that we were very good friends, but I saw that I 
 was considered too giddy to appreciate your real 
 self." 
 
 The young man uttered a remonstrative excla- 
 mation, but Marian went on. 
 
 " Perhaps you were right. But even then, Mr. 
 Duncan, I think if you had tried me you would 
 have found that I could be interested in something 
 besides dancing ! " 
 
 " Oh, Miss Kent, don't set me down as an utter 
 prig ! " he said, looking so wretched that Marian 
 responded with a charming smile, " I forgive you ! 
 No doubt I needed the lesson, and it did me 
 good." 
 
 " I don't see why I did n't talk sense occasion- 
 ally," he said, laughing, as he recovered a little 
 from his discomfiture. 
 
 "I always credited you with being capable of 
 it," she returned ; " whereas you evidently " 
 
 " Had no penetration whatever," he finished for 
 her. " Don't say anything more, Miss Kent ; I am 
 in the dust already." 
 
 " We always joked when we were together, 
 did n't we ? " she said. " I believe if you begin an 
 acquaintance that way, it is almost impossible to
 
 122 RICH ENOUGH. 
 
 change. Is n't it strange," she added reflectively, 
 " the way people hide their real selves away from 
 one another so carefully ? " 
 
 " I suppose that is because we are all so self- 
 conscious, don't you ? " he said. 
 
 " I suppose so. But why should we be so afraid 
 of showing what we really feel ? If we were all 
 more honest, what a different thing society would 
 be." 
 
 " Why can't we begin over again on that founda- 
 tion ? Don't you think we might ? " holding out 
 his hand eagerly. 
 
 There was a sound of footsteps overhead and of 
 gay voices ; the dancers were coming down. 
 
 " We might try it," Marian answered, giving 
 him her hand with a very friendly smile ; and when 
 the invaders fell upon the dining-room, General 
 Gage and Lady Washington were serving bouillon 
 on the best of terms. 
 
 After supper Madame Salisbury and Colonel 
 Htmtington went up to the ballroom, and were 
 there inspired to show the young people how they 
 used to dance in the days of the stately minuet. 
 It was a pretty sight to see the little lady courtesy, 
 and when Colonel Huntington finished with some 
 veritable pigeon- wings there was great applause. 
 
 Bob, on the spur of the moment, invented a min- 
 uet favor figure, and, breaking off a little spray 
 of cherry blossoms from the tree, presented it
 
 RICH ENOUGH. 123 
 
 with his best bow to Madame Salisbury, and led 
 her out. 
 
 The other men saw then what the cherry tree 
 was for, and in a moment it had surrendered 
 nearly every twig, and the room was filled with 
 whirling blossoms. 
 
 Then the girls decorated the men with little 
 hatchets which were found amid the branches, and 
 the dance ended. 
 
 Mollie Penfield's cheeks were rose-pink when 
 Will brought her an extra favor and asked for one 
 last turn. She had never had such a beautiful 
 time in all her life before, and the attentions of the 
 handsome British officer had been quite overwhelm- 
 ing to her. She was so " refreshingly natural " in 
 showing her pleasure that he had enjoyed being 
 with her very much, and had devoted himself to 
 her in a way that would have surprised his sis- 
 ters if they had not been too much occupied to 
 notice it. 
 
 Aunt Cornelia, in a very bland mood, was the last 
 of the town guests to leave, and expressed herself 
 with unwonted graciousness. 
 
 " A very creditable affair. Your ices might have 
 been a little harder, and there was a trifle too much 
 mustard in the mayonnaise ; but, on the whole, there 
 was nothing to be ashamed of." 
 
 " Selah ! " said Bob, as he closed the door be- 
 hind her.
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 WHEN Marian asked Bob to take her to the 
 mission some evening, he did not seem at 
 all anxious for her company, and said in a very 
 elderly tone : 
 
 " I don't think it 's a place for you girls. We 
 have the toughest kind of a lot down there, and 
 you'd hear language such as you never dreamed 
 of. I don't know what you could do, either. It 
 seems to me you would be rather in the way." 
 
 " Well, Bob, you are complimentary ! Mr. Dun- 
 can thought we might help with the mothers." 
 
 " Oh, did he ? I suppose you might look out for 
 them a little, as long as they will come, and he 
 is n't willing to shut them out But what they 
 really need is some practical woman to talk to 
 them, tell them how to cook a potato decently, 
 and what to do for the baby when it has the colic. 
 Jerusalem! a woman drifted in with one in her 
 arms the other night, and suddenly that baby 
 began to yell for all it was worth, so we could n't 
 hear ourselves think. I went to her and asked 
 her politely to go home. She just stared at me, 
 and did n't move. Then I told her that the kid
 
 RICH ENOUGH. 125 
 
 would have to go, any way, and started to take it 
 out of her arms, supposing, of course, she would 
 grab it and run. But she did n't care a hang, and 
 when I 'd got that baby on my hands, Marian, a 
 circus was n't in it. 
 
 " It twisted itself up into double bow knots a 
 good deal faster than I could straighten it out; 
 and that fool of a woman stood there with her 
 arms hanging down at her sides, so I could n't give 
 it back. I should have been a raving maniac in a 
 minute, if our policeman had n't dropped in on 
 us. He spotted the woman as a ' regular drunk,' 
 and he marched her off to the station house ; said 
 the baby was hungry. Now how could I know 
 that ? 
 
 " I struck, then, told Duncan that I had agreed 
 to work in a boys' club, and did n't feel suited to a 
 nursery. He roared so, I wonder you did n't hear 
 him over here ! " 
 
 Marian was laughing so at the expression on 
 Bob's face she could not speak. 
 
 " You girls would n't be of any more use than I 
 was at such a time. Mrs. Bassett, now, would have 
 been worth something. There 's an idea ! If we are 
 going to keep on letting in the fathers and mothers, 
 I believe I '11 try to get her to come in and help." 
 
 " I don't doubt she would be much flattered by 
 the invitation," Marian said, in rather a piqued tone 
 of voice, which Bob observed.
 
 126 RICH ENOUGH. 
 
 " No disparagement intended, sister. You can 
 come along with her, you '11 be something pleas- 
 ant for them to look at. You can do the ornamen- 
 tal, while she's doing the useful ! " 
 
 " Thank you very much," said Marian, with ironic 
 meekness, at the same time making up her mind 
 to show her presumptuous younger brother that her 
 sphere was wider than he thought ! 
 
 Mrs. Bassett was ready to do anything that Bob 
 asked, and so it was in her company that Marian 
 made her first appearance in Rocky District. 
 
 The club occupied a house which in early days 
 had been one of the fine old homes of the city. 
 There were carved mantels and heavy gilt cornices 
 in the large parlors, and the doors were of rich 
 dark mahogany. Jack Duncan had rented the 
 house for a social experiment of his own, furnished 
 it simply but attractively, and put a trustworthy 
 man and his wife in charge of it. Upstairs he had 
 his own quarters, and lived there most of the time, 
 in order to indentify himself with the neighbor- 
 hood. Through a small newsboy friend he had 
 been properly introduced to the street, and after 
 varied experiences was now looked upon as an odd 
 but harmless resident of the district, and his club 
 for boys a social feature which it was safe to 
 encourage. 
 
 This was one of the nights when a special entertain- 
 ment was to be given by a college banjo octet. The
 
 RICH ENOUGH. 127 
 
 rooms were filled to overflowing. Boys of all ages, 
 members of the club, occupied the front seat, while 
 the fathers and mothers had crowded in at the 
 rear. If the ghosts of the former occupants were 
 hovering near the scene, it is to be hoped that they 
 were philanthropic spirits, else they would have 
 felt their old haunts desecrated ! Such hard faces 
 as there were among the boys, as if already old in 
 wickedness ; such dull, brutish expressions as many 
 of the men and women wore! It made Marian 
 shiver as she peeped out from behind the curtain 
 which hung in front of the stage. She had never 
 been among such people, and she had a sensation 
 of fear. Could it be safe to work among them ? 
 
 Calls for the music more forcible than polite be- 
 gan to arise, and as the curtain was drawn Marian 
 retreated to the room beside the stage. 
 
 The music was so popular that the recitations on 
 the program received scant favor. " Oh, cut it 
 short ! " " Don't want any more of that ! " were 
 some of the embarrassing remarks thrown at the 
 elocutionist. When there was a song, the room be- 
 came so still that every word could be heard ; but 
 a march or a waltz had an accompaniment of 
 shuffling feet that almost drowned the sound of the 
 banjos. 
 
 " Why, they are n't half civilized ! " Marian ex- 
 claimed to Jack Duncan under cover of the noise. 
 
 " What would you have said when we opened !
 
 128 RICH ENOUGH. 
 
 We used to be pelted with ancient vegetables every 
 time we came down, and then they would get to 
 fighting among themselves, so it was only by hav- 
 ing several policemen in the room that we could 
 get through any kind of a meeting without a regular 
 row. Those were stirring times ! Now our even- 
 ings are so lamb-like it is almost dull. 
 
 " When the entertainment is over, I want to in- 
 troduce some of our choicest spirits to you," and 
 Jack laughed at the expression of Marian's face at 
 the thought. 
 
 But she was very gracious and cordial when he 
 brought them up. They eyed her as though she 
 were a visitor from some other world, but on the 
 whole seemed to approve of her. 
 
 " This is Jimmy Tucker," Jack said, bringing 
 forward one boy, who looked like a mischievous 
 imp. Marian had noticed that in whatever part of 
 the room he was, there was always a commotion. 
 
 " I am very glad to meet you," she said smilingly, 
 holding out her hand, and was quite overcome when 
 he responded, 
 
 " The pleasure is mutual, ma'am ! " 
 
 He had such a wicked light in his black eyes 
 that Marian began to laugh, and he joined in as if 
 he saw the joke. 
 
 "Did I sound patronizing?" she asked of Jack 
 when Jimmy had departed. 
 
 " I did n't think of it. Jimmy is as keen as a
 
 RICH ENOUGH. 129 
 
 brier, and he is a little rascal ; but he supports his 
 mother and sister, and is very good to them, they 
 say in the tenement." 
 
 Mrs. Bassett was making her way with the 
 mothers, asking about their children, and throwing 
 out little suggestions which much diverted Bob, who 
 followed her around. 
 
 " Pretty," she said, touching a brilliant pink dress 
 worn by an Italian woman. " You come here next 
 Tuesday night, and I '11 give you a piece of soap to 
 wash that dress with, and it won't fade one mite." 
 
 The woman nodded ; the word " give " was the 
 important one to her. 
 
 After the audience had all departed, the host 
 asked his lady guests if they liked it well enough 
 to come again. 
 
 " I do," said Mrs. Bassett, promptly. " I want to 
 distribute some soap." 
 
 " And I want to meet Jimmy Tucker's mother," 
 said Marian. 
 
 Jack Duncan was delighted. " We will elect 
 you Auxiliary Committee, and set aside the room at 
 the end of the hall for your use. You can have 
 mothers' meetings and do anything you want to in 
 there." 
 
 The Auxiliary Committee found their hands full 
 of work very soon. They invited in the women of 
 the neighborhood to a cup of tea one afternoon, and 
 under the influence of the gentle stimulant made a 
 
 9
 
 130 RICH ENOUGH. 
 
 way into the hearts of their visitors, and inaugurated 
 a series of sewing-circles, where .gossip and tea 
 were mingled in the most approved style. At the 
 same time Marian's sympathetic interest, and the 
 bits of homely wisdom contributed by Mrs. Bassett 
 established a spirit of comradeship that opened the 
 way into their homes. 
 
 Mrs. Bassett plunged in zealously, her constant 
 cry being cleanliness. She would pin up her skirts 
 and mop a floor, wipe off the window and put the 
 room in order in a few minutes, while the owner 
 looked on helplessly. 
 
 " There ! " she would say, " you see it does n't 
 take long to have a clean room, and I guess you '11 
 find your husband '11 like it when he comes in. 
 Tidy up your hair, too, and do wash the baby's 
 face!" 
 
 As Bob said, her methods were so direct and she 
 had such a magnificent lack of tact that she was a 
 perfect success ! 
 
 " What would John Bassett have done if I 'd been 
 shiftless," she often ejaculated. " I 've yet to see 
 any one that can turn off work faster than I could 
 in my day." 
 
 " But they 're too grinding poor to economize, 
 that's what's the matter," she declared to Marian. 
 " They never have anything ahead, and they just 
 buy a few cents' worth of provisions at a time at the 
 highest price."
 
 RICH ENOUGH. 131 
 
 " I '11 tell you what I would like to do," said 
 Marian : " I 've always thought I would like to keep 
 a store, and now I see how I could do it. If Mr. 
 Duncan would let me have a room at the club, I 
 would buy a lot of things, and then sell them at the 
 wholesale rates." 
 
 " Well, I guess he 'd let you, fast enough ; but 
 you 'd need some capital to start with." 
 
 " I think I could manage that," said Marian, with 
 a confident nod of her head. " I '11 find out first, 
 and then propose it at a committee meeting." 
 
 Accordingly, very full of her idea, which con- 
 stantly developed new possibilities in her mind, 
 Marian appeared one morning in the private office 
 of her Uncle D wight during business hours, a pro- 
 ceeding which filled that busy man with amazement, 
 not to say dismay. 
 
 " I would n't let them announce me, for I knew 
 you 'd see me." 
 
 " Certainly I would," he said, pushing back his 
 papers and coming forward. " I am always glad to 
 see you," and his round, genial face broadened into 
 a benignant smile. 
 
 " I 've come strictly on business, or of course I 
 should n't have come at this time of day." 
 
 " Take a chair, take a chair, my dear ; what can 
 I do for you ? Something to invest ? " and his eyes 
 twinkled. 
 
 " I 've come to offer you a good investment," said
 
 132 KICK ENOUGH. 
 
 Marian, gayly, as she sat down ; and then she un- 
 folded her plan with such a flow of eloquence that 
 Uncle George said, when she had finished : 
 
 " You would make a good advocate, Marian ! 
 Now, what interest do you offer me on my 
 money ?'* 
 
 " What ? " and Marian looked at him rather 
 blankly. 
 
 " Yes ; you offer me an investment, what re- 
 turn am I to have ? " 
 
 " The return that all true philanthropists expect," 
 his niece said, smiling wiimingly, " the kind of 
 reward you are used to having, uncle." 
 
 " Oh, well," he said, with an embarrassed air, 
 " I have to help out a little here and there. I 'm 
 too busy to give my time, and it soothes my con- 
 science to write a check now and then for some 
 good charity. Bat what you propose, Marian, is 
 business, and should be conducted on business 
 principles. I am perfectly willing to advance you 
 what money you want, but I would like to see you 
 put this thing on a sound basis. 
 
 " Now you expect to have the use of a room at 
 your club, rent free. You mean to act as ' sales- 
 lady,' so there will be no salary for a clerk. You 
 should be able to sell your goods at a sufficient 
 advance on your buying price to pay a small in- 
 terest, say four per cent, and yet give your cus- 
 tomers a great advantage. If you prove that this
 
 RICH ENOUGH. 133 
 
 can be done, you will find plenty of business men 
 glad to invest their money with you. They are not 
 always grasping after the biggest percentage they 
 can get, and a good many of them would be glad to 
 help charitable work that was run on good financial 
 principles." 
 
 Marian was beginning to look thoughtful, and 
 Uncle George concluded : 
 
 " It will take very good management, and you 
 will have to steel your heart ; you will want to give 
 over-weight half the time, and you won't want to 
 take the pennies away from ' those poor things,' 
 but you must reflect that it is better for them to 
 pay where they can than to be treated as paupers. 
 It is considerable for a young thing like you to 
 undertake." 
 
 " I want to try it very much," said Marian, with 
 a little sigh, the project began to look rather 
 formidable. " But I should probably make all sorts 
 of mistakes, and bankrupt my capital instead of 
 paying interest." 
 
 " Well, we '11 see. Do your best, and I '11 back 
 you. I shall be proud of you if you prove yourself 
 a woman of business." 
 
 " I '11 try," said Marian, with a determined look. 
 
 Uncle George went over to his desk and wrote 
 a check for one hundred dollars. " Here is some- 
 thing to start you. Now I would like your ac- 
 knowledgment, and one month from date you 'd
 
 134 RICH ENOUGH. 
 
 better report your financial standing." He laughed 
 at her serious face. 
 
 She thanked him warmly as she rose to go, and 
 turned toward the door, when he called her back. 
 
 " Perhaps, Marian, we 'd better not say anything 
 about this scheme of yours to your Aunt Cornelia," 
 he said, looking rather red. 
 
 They exchanged comprehending glances, and 
 Marian answered with a smile, 
 
 " Absolute secrecy shall be maintained."
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 " TF Marian was ' mum ' before, she is an absolute 
 
 A clam now," Betty said mournfully one day, 
 about two weeks after Marian's interview with 
 Uncle George. " She takes philanthropy very 
 hard ! " 
 
 Marian was living in an atmosphere of account- 
 books and lists from wholesale grocery houses. 
 Samples of beans and tea, corn meal and baking 
 powder, were piled high on her desk. Daily con- 
 sultations with Mrs. Bassett and trips to the club 
 took most of her time. 
 
 " I think it 's lovely," said Mollie, " and I hope 
 she '11 let me help." 
 
 " Help ! You, with five boys to bring up ! No, 
 1 shall be the victim. I have a vision of myself 
 with my hair done in a little hard knob at the back 
 of my head, and spectacles on my nose, washing 
 dirty faces and carrying packages of tea to the old 
 women, and flitting in and out of grog-shops to lead 
 home the fathers of families. Oh, I shall come to 
 it, I know, just because my sister will insist on 
 being a philanthropist." 
 
 " Don't be absurd, Betty," said Marian. " You 
 know you 're interested yourself."
 
 136 RICH ENOUGH. 
 
 " I shall be awfully disappointed if Betty won't 
 go," Mollie said, as she was taking her departure. 
 
 " Betty ! " repeated Marian, who understood that 
 contrary young person well. " Why, she will do 
 more than any of the rest of us." 
 
 The opening day at the new store was an excit- 
 ing one. From an early hour Mrs. Bassett and 
 Marian, with Mollie and Betty as assistants, had 
 been weighing out groceries and tying them up in 
 packages from a penny's worth to a pound, as fast 
 as they could work. Jack Duncan and Bob were 
 giving a helping hand. 
 
 Long before the time set there was a crowd 
 before the door of the club-house, that stretched 
 across to the other pavement, effectually blockading 
 the street. Marian grew apprehensive. 
 
 " What does it mean ? " she said, peeping through 
 the blind. " I don't see a face that I know. 
 Are n't they our own people ? " 
 
 Jack stood beside her and looked out. " They 
 are the very riffraff," he said. " I am afraid they 
 think provisions are to be given away. I 'd better 
 step out and tell them how it is." 
 
 On throwing open the outside door he was 
 greeted with a yell that sounded rather menacing, 
 and Bob, unnoticed by the others, touched a button 
 that communicated with the precinct police station, 
 and then took his place by Duncan in the doorway. 
 
 " My friends," the latter was saying, " as you
 
 RICH ENOUGH. 137 
 
 have heard, the club will sell groceries to its friends 
 at wholesale rates. The room is now open to any 
 of you who want to buy. Those who do not will 
 kindly make room for the others." 
 
 " What are ye givin' us ? " a voice replied. 
 
 " Ain't this a free show ? " 
 
 " Do you own the street ? " demanded a big man, 
 stepping up and putting his face close to Duncan's. 
 
 " What 's to hinder our goin' in and takin' what 
 we want, you young bloke ! Come on, boys, they 
 can't hinder us," he said, turning to his associates. 
 
 There was a murmur of assent, and some of the 
 men pressed forward. Duncan and Bob put their 
 shoulders together. 
 
 " See here, Billy Pike," said Duncan, in a ringing 
 voice, " I know who you are, and you won't get in 
 here. You 're wanted at the station already. 
 Don't make any more trouble for yourself." 
 
 The big man shrank visibly at the sound of his 
 name, and wavered. 
 
 Just then Bob shouted " Police ! " with all the 
 strength of his lungs, and there was a stampede so 
 sudden and irresistible that in a moment the street 
 was empty of all but a few whose consciences were 
 clear. Two blue-coated guardians of the peace did 
 actually turn the corner, which seemed to prove 
 that Bob had clairvoyant powers. 
 
 The situation had changed so suddenly that 
 Duncan and Bob came back into the room con-
 
 138 RICH ENOUGH. 
 
 vulsed with laughter over the funny scene ; but they 
 found the storekeeper and her assistants rather 
 pale and shaken. 
 
 " What would they have done if they had come 
 in ? " asked Betty. 
 
 " Cleared every cent's worth of stuff out of here 
 quicker than you could say Jack Robinson," said 
 Bob. " The Bread Riot would n't have been in it." 
 
 " We have to go through just about so much," 
 said Duncan, " every time we make a new depar- 
 ture in the club. They are n't used to this sort of 
 thing in this quarter of the city, and it 's about the 
 only part where clubs and missions are n't an old 
 story." 
 
 " Yes," said Bob, " we have primeval savagery 
 here." 
 
 The policemen came in to see what was wanted, 
 and were invited to keep an eye on the house for 
 the rest of the day. 
 
 Then a few women found their way in. Curi- 
 osity, more than anything else, brought them, and 
 they looked critically at the shelves full of boxes, 
 and the cases ; the pyramids of cans ; the table 
 with its new shiny scales ; the smiling sales-ladies. 
 
 Betty had fastened a red bow on the cover of the 
 sugar barrel for a handle, and that aroused such 
 suspicion that not an ounce of sugar was called 
 for. They held on tightly to the pennies tied up 
 in one corner of a handkerchief or a shawl, as they
 
 RICH ENOUGH. 139 
 
 asked the prices of different things. They needed 
 to go home and think it over before they could feel 
 sure there was no deep-laid snare about it. 
 
 The largest demand was for cheese and onions. 
 
 " I was afraid," Marian explained to one big 
 Irishwomen, " that such fragrant things would be 
 objected to by the club." 
 
 " Sure, then, and I '11 go back to the old place, 
 where they ain't afraid of things that smell a 
 little ; " and she marched off in disdain. 
 
 The first actual purchaser was Jimmy Tucker, 
 who laid out fifty cents with a lordly air. He 
 would not buy of any one but Marian, and they 
 had a serious discussion as to which would give 
 the most nourishment, one quart of beans or 
 the same money value in corn meal. 
 
 Other club members followed Jimmy's example, 
 and for a short 'time trade was quite lively ; but 
 when Marian counted up her sales and found they 
 only amounted to three dollars and seven cents, 
 she was rather crestfallen. 
 
 " All this work for that ! " she exclaimed. 
 
 "Wait a little," said Jack. "Tommy Healy 
 never saw so many potatoes as that for ' tin cints ' 
 in his life, and before to-morrow every friend of 
 the family will know of it. Your custom will 
 increase fast enough." 
 
 And so it proved. Marian soon found her store 
 so popular that she felt obliged to have it open
 
 140 RICH ENOUGH. 
 
 three afternoons in the week and Saturday even- 
 ing, for of course that was the great shopping 
 night in Rocky District. Mrs. Bassett grew so 
 interested in seeing that their customers made the 
 most of their purchases that she began to give 
 recipes with every package, and to follow them 
 home in some instances to give object-lessons. 
 
 "It's terrible the way good material is spoiled," 
 she said. " I tell you what, Marian, the next 
 thing you '11 have to do will be to hitch on a cook- 
 ing-school to your store." 
 
 " Oh, how I wish we could ! " Marian said. " But, 
 dear me, my store is getting almost beyond me." 
 
 " There is one thing I 've undertaken," she said, 
 turning to Jack Duncan, for they were having a 
 committee meeting at the close of a busy after- 
 noon, " that perhaps I ought to have consulted 
 you about. Jimmy Tucker was telling me how 
 hard he found it to make his wages cover the 
 family expenses, and I suggested to him that every 
 Saturday he should give me what he could afford 
 for food through the week, and let me cater for 
 the family." 
 
 " Well, that is a high-handed performance," 
 exclaimed Bob. 
 
 " He likes it," declared Marian. " I 've been 
 studying up foods lately, and I could nourish you, 
 Bob, for ten cents a day." 
 
 " Hear her ! " cried her brother. " Now I under-
 
 RICH ENOUGH. 141 
 
 stand Betty's laments. She has confided to me 
 that you feed them entirely out of that book, 
 ' How to Provide a Seven Course Dinner for Six 
 People for Twenty-five Cents.' She has thought 
 your reason was tottering." 
 
 "But I see it all now," put in Betty. "She 
 thinks that ' charity begins at home.' " 
 
 There was a burst of laughter, in which Marian 
 herself joined. " I must practise on the family," 
 she said, "or I couldn't speak to Jimmy with 
 conviction." 
 
 " I should like to know," said Jack, " what the 
 results have been with his funds." 
 
 " We came out four cents ahead the first week," 
 said Marian, proudly, "and now we have just 
 ended another and we are eleven cents in." 
 
 " If you can make money as fast as that we '11 
 vote you into the presidency of the club." 
 
 " Oh, dear," said Mrs. Bassett, " I just ached to 
 take Pat Murphy's wages away from him when he 
 brought them in to his wife ! Poor fellow ! She 's 
 so slack I wonder he has any courage left. ' We '11 
 have one good supper, anyway,' says she. And she 
 sent the boy off with a dollar to buy a steak, 
 and I don't doubt he 'd get a porter-house. I 'm 
 going for them next week and see if they won't 
 let me try Marian's plan." 
 
 " Isn't it taking a great deal of responsibility ?" 
 asked Jack, looking somewhat troubled.
 
 142 RICH ENOUGH. 
 
 " Don't you worry, young man ! We know 
 how to manage this business ! " and Mrs. Bassett 
 nodded sagely. " Before long we '11 be having 
 their wages thrust upon us, they '11 get such con- 
 fidence in women. Then's the time I will take 
 the wives in hand and teach them to manage the 
 way I do, and before you know it these shiftless 
 men will want them to manage all the funds, and 
 then the drinking will stop." 
 
 " The thing is growing right out of our hands, 
 Bob," said the president. " When they get their 
 Wage Trust Company established and the cooking- 
 school going, the neighborhood will be reformed 
 without any trouble for us." 
 
 "Are you sure that we sha'n't interfere with 
 your work ? " asked Marian. " The boys ought to 
 come first." 
 
 " We '11 add another building when you begin to 
 interfere, and be very glad to. In fact, I don't 
 know but that I shall move out now, and let you 
 have the upper floor for your experience meetings 
 and such." 
 
 " Better wait and see how we hold out," said 
 Marian, laughing. 
 
 " I have perfect confidence in you," he answered. 
 
 " But, Bob, sha'n't we girls be rather in the 
 way ? " she asked demurely. 
 
 Bob knelt down before her. 
 
 " Sister, I tumble. I knew not of what I spoke,
 
 RICH ENOUGH. 143 
 
 in my youthful arrogance. We could not get 
 along without you now." 
 
 " Vindicated at last ! " said Marian ; and she fell 
 on his neck dramatically. 
 
 " Can't you come home with us, Bob ? " his twin 
 asked as they were going down the steps. 
 
 " No, I can't. Sorry, but I 've got to grind to- 
 night. I ought not to have come here, but I could 
 not resist the opportunity of meeting my own true 
 love ; " and Bob took Mrs. Bassett's hand and drew 
 it through his arm. 
 
 " Go along, you sinner ! " she said, giving him a 
 little shake. 
 
 When he had left them in the car, Mrs. Bassett 
 said with conviction : 
 
 " That brother of yours is about the nicest young 
 man I 've ever set my eyes on." 
 
 The girls reached home in high spirits, to find 
 Will comfortably settled before the fire with his 
 book and pipe. 
 
 " Why, Will, how nice ! How long have you 
 been here ? " exclaimed Marian. 
 
 " This is an honor ! " chimed in Betty. 
 
 " I 've been here some time," he said, rising and 
 knocking the ashes from his pipe. Then as he 
 surveyed the glowing faces of his sisters : " You 
 look as if you had been on a spree." 
 
 " So we have, an intoxicating philanthropic 
 spree ! " said Betty.
 
 144 RICH ENOUGH. 
 
 " Are you going to stay to dinner ? " asked the 
 housekeeper. 
 
 Will nodded. " That 's what I came for." There 
 was an air of suppressed excitement about him, 
 which they both felt. 
 
 " She is going to kill the fatted calf," said Betty 
 as Marian left the room. 
 
 " Betty/' Will said, without noticing her insinua- 
 tion, " what relation was Mr. David Griffin to us ? " 
 
 " Oh, I don't know, cousin, way back some- 
 where. Marian knows, perhaps. Why ? " 
 
 " I '11 tell you by and by," with some importance. 
 " Here she comes. Marian, was Mr. David Griffin 
 a cousin of ours ? " 
 
 " No," said his sister, drawing up a chair before 
 the fire. " He was mamma's grand-uncle. He 
 lives out in California, does n't he ? " 
 
 " He did ; but he has just died, and " Will 
 threw back his head with a little triumphant air 
 " he has left me some money." 
 
 " Will ! " cried Betty, rising to her feet, " you 
 don't mean it ! " 
 
 " You 're joking ! " said Marian. 
 
 " Yes, I do ! No, I 'm not ! " exclaimed Will, in 
 some excitement. 
 
 " How much is it ? " " When did you find out ? " 
 " Are you a millionaire ? " " Do tell us all about it ! " 
 
 " I will if you '11 keep still long enough. How 
 much fuss two girls can make ! " Will was already
 
 RICH ENOUGH. 145 
 
 assuming the airs of a landed proprietor, and the 
 girls meekly settled down to listen. 
 
 " It 's bequeathed to me as ' Alice Winthrop's 
 eldest child.' It isn't so much, twenty thou- 
 sand, but it 's something to start with." 
 
 " I should think so I " said Marian. " Right out 
 of the clear sky ! " 
 
 " It 's perfectly astounding ! " said Betty. " To 
 think of a Kent having a legacy ! What will you 
 do with it, Will ? " 
 
 " Well, I can't do anything very big all at once. 
 The old gentleman fixed that. He was cautious. 
 Here, 1 '11 read you the letter ; " and Will drew from 
 his pocket, and proceeded to read, a legal-looking 
 document which explained that the bequest was in 
 United States bonds, and trusteed so that he could 
 only draw the interest. 
 
 " But now I shall have something to live on while 
 I am working up my profession, and can be inde- 
 pendent of father," said Will, proudly. " He '11 be 
 pleased, I imagine." 
 
 " What fun it will be to tell him about it," said 
 Betty, " and what a shame that Bob did n't come 
 home ! " 
 
 " Bob will be relieved of his responsibility as to my 
 future, now." There was a tinge of resentment in 
 Will's tone which made Marian say quickly, " Oh, 
 Will, Bob does n't mean anything by what he says." 
 
 When Mr. Kent arrived, Betty flew to the door, 
 10
 
 146 RICH ENOUGH. 
 
 opened it, and dragged her father into the parlor 
 without giving him time to take off his overcoat. 
 His surprise and pleasure at the news were all that 
 she could ask, and they held quite a family jubila- 
 tion over Will's " fortune." 
 
 " Why, who is coming here ? " exclaimed Mar- 
 ian, as a carriage stopped at the door late in the 
 evening. 
 
 " Oh, that 's for me," said Will, in an off-hand 
 way as he rose to his feet. " I knew I should stay 
 rather late, and so I told Jenkins to send for me." 
 
 As the door closed behind him, the girls turned 
 to each other. 
 
 " How money smooths one's path ! " said Betty ; 
 and it was fortunate for Will's complacency, as he 
 rolled away, that he did not hear the laughter of 
 his naughty sisters. 
 
 " If it were not for papa's sake," said Marian, 
 thoughtfully, as they went upstairs, " I should be 
 sorry that this money has come to Will." 
 
 " Why ? " Betty was surprised. 
 
 " Because, now that he has something to depend 
 on, I 'm afraid he '11 settle down and not try to make 
 anything of himself. He is n't half so ambitious 
 as I thought he would be ; " and Marian sighed. 
 
 " He '11 never work for the love of working, 
 that 's sure," said Betty. 
 
 " No," assented Marian, " when he earns enough 
 more to live on comfortably, he '11 be satisfied."
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 "\ T 7ITH the coming of the spring an out-of-door 
 * life began for the Kents. The young 
 Penfields were accustomed to long tramps and in- 
 different to mud, and under their leadership the 
 country a,bout was thoroughly explored. The out- 
 lying hills in their spring green held out a con- 
 stant invitation, and the sandy roads toward the 
 harbor drew them to the sea. Mr. Kent saw his 
 girls with fresh complexions and full of energy, at 
 the time of year when he had supposed pale cheeks 
 and languid eyes a necessary evil of the season. 
 
 Betty's soul was fired to have a garden. She 
 had anathematized unsparingly the high stone wall 
 which separated their garden from that of their 
 unknown neighbor. Now she saw great possibili- 
 ties in it. 
 
 " We will have it just covered with vines," she de- 
 clared, " morning glories or nasturtiums ; and 
 I 'm going to have a border of flowers all around 
 the tennis ground. Madame Salisbury is a lady ; her 
 wall is just the right height to sit on, so we won't 
 have many vines there ; just a few beautiful holly- 
 hocks to rise up and nod to her in the morning."
 
 148 KICK ENOUGH. 
 
 When the June days came the tennis court be- 
 came the centre of attraction. Bob and his friends 
 had found a short cut from college, and nearly 
 every afternoon some of them put in an appearance. 
 The old square had wakened to new life with the 
 advent of summer, and was at its prettiest now. 
 The dignified old houses seemed to throw off some 
 of their reserve as they opened their windows and 
 doors to the sunshine. The gardens, full of roses 
 and mignonette, and the pinks of our grandmothers, 
 wooed every one out of doors. Even Miss Pierce's 
 heart relaxed when the walking club took it upon 
 itself to supply her with flowers for the church, 
 and she had been known to sit a whole after- 
 noon watching the tennis. Mrs. Bassett trotted 
 over often, and Madame Salisbury was a faithful 
 chaperon. There was a special chair under the 
 big tree for her, and the attention she received 
 from the young people pleased her. 
 
 She was sitting in the midst of them one after- 
 noon ; a set had just been finished, and there was 
 a pause for the cup of tea which Marian delighted 
 to make. The young men in their white flannels 
 had thrown themselves down on the grass, while 
 the girls sat on the rug at her feet. 
 
 " Oh, Madame Salisbury," said Betty, suddenly, 
 " our mysterious neighbor has come back, 1 am 
 sure ! See, there is some one in the window up- 
 stairs." Naturally, every one looked to see, and a
 
 RICH ENOUGH. 149 
 
 shadowy figure drew back from behind the thin 
 curtain which had been used as a screen. 
 
 " My dear child," expostulated Madame Salisbury, 
 " you should not have called attention in that way 
 to the person, whoever it may be." 
 
 " The housekeeper, probably," suggested Mollie. 
 
 " No, it is n't," insisted Betty. " She would n't 
 have tried to hide. I 'm sorry, Madame Salisbury, 
 that I was so inconsiderate, but I was surprised. 
 Dear me, we shall not be half so independent with 
 that house all open ! " 
 
 " I am afraid you have a guilty conscience," said 
 Bob's chum. " It will do the old chap good to 
 look out and see the fun, and can't hurt you." 
 
 " Old chap ! Why, he 's young and mysterious." 
 
 " Betty is all ready for a romance," said Bob. 
 " I '11 give you a pound of Huyler's best if your 
 hero isn't freckled and hasn't a turn-up nose." 
 
 " Oh, you 've seen him, then ! " said Betty, in a 
 decidedly disappointed tone. 
 
 Bob shouted. 
 
 " Oh, Madame Salisbury, tell us what he 's like, 
 and then I '11 get my pound of candy," begged 
 Betty. 
 
 Madame Salisbury shook her head. " You will 
 have to wait and judge for yourselves, if he is here." 
 
 " Well, what is the mystery ? " asked a blonde 
 youth who was diligently trying to balance his 
 racket on his chin.
 
 150 KICH ENOUGH. 
 
 " Nobody knows, and that is why it is so fasci- 
 nating," said Betty. 
 
 There was a groan of derision at this, and tennis 
 began again. Betty declined to play, and sat by 
 Madame, who had grown grave and preoccupied. 
 
 " Madame Salisbury, do tell me something about 
 our neighbor, please. You must have known him," 
 she coaxed. 
 
 Madame Salisbury sighed. " I do not believe, 
 my dear, in talking of other people's affairs on 
 hearsay, and if one knew more than others it would 
 be a confidence that could not be repeated." 
 
 " I beg your pardon. I did not mean to be in- 
 quisitive ; only if we are going to have some one 
 watching us all the time 1 wanted to know if he 
 would be dangerous." 
 
 Madame Salisbury could not help smiling. 
 
 " He is perfectly safe, and I think you will find 
 that he will not trouble you at all. I consider him 
 quite worthy of my friendship, whatever other 
 people may think," and Madame Salisbury reared 
 her head proudly. 
 
 If the new-comer watched his gay neighbors, he 
 concealed himself better than he had the first day, 
 and they soon forgot him, all except Betty. He 
 never showed himself in the square, and if he 
 spent much time in his garden no one was the 
 wiser, as his high walls gave him a world all his 
 own.
 
 IRICH ENOUGH. 151 
 
 Betty had spoken truly for herself in saying that 
 not knowing what the mystery was gave it its fas- 
 cination. Her imagination had full play, and she 
 constructed numberless romances in which the un- 
 known figured in all rOles, from that of a soulless 
 monster to a self -abnegating hero. She saw his 
 light burning far into the night, and wondered if 
 he were pacing the floor in never-ceasing remorse. 
 Betty had developed the habit of early rising in 
 the care of her garden, and often worked in the 
 dewy freshness of the morning before breakfast. 
 
 It was on one of these occasions that she sud- 
 denly heard something drop beside her, and a voice 
 over her head saying, " I beg your pardon ! " 
 
 She was kneeling by a bed of pansies, and looked 
 up much startled by this voice from the clouds ; but 
 it only came from the top of the wall, above which 
 appeared the head and shoulders of a young man. 
 
 " I beg your pardon," he repeated, lifting his hat, 
 " but I have dropped my knife down near you. 
 Might I trouble you to give it to me ? I was work- 
 ing at my grapevines," he continued in an apolo- 
 getic tone, as Betty, without a word, began hunting 
 about for the knife, " and carelessly let it fall." 
 
 Betty might have told him that it was altogether 
 too late in the season to trim grapevines, and that 
 he could not have dropped his knife if he had not 
 been looking over the wall. But she was too much 
 excited to think of that. " He is n't half so inter-
 
 152 RICH ENOUGH. 
 
 estirig looking as I expected," she was saying to 
 herself. Then she discovered his property and 
 rose to her feet to return it. 
 
 " I hope I did not frighten you," he said, as she 
 still continued speechless. 
 
 " Oh, no," she answered, as she held up the knife. 
 
 " Thank you very much. You have some fine 
 pansies," he said, lingering. His eyes were dark 
 and melancholy, quite as they ought to be, Betty 
 reflected. A recluse would of course be unconven- 
 tional. Meanwhile she was saying, " Pansies do 
 repay you for what you do for them." 
 
 " Unlike people ! " he answered, raised his hat, 
 and was gone. 
 
 " Now, if he were going to be unconventional, 
 why did n't he keep on ? " she thought to herself. 
 She would have considered it " very queer " if he 
 had kept on ; nevertheless she was disappointed 
 that he had not. 
 
 After all, though he did not look happy, he was 
 just an ordinary young man, and all her romances 
 had suddenly lost their flavor. But she went gar- 
 dening the next morning with quite a thrill of 
 excitement. Would he speak again ? He did not, 
 and she was decidedly cross at breakfast time, and 
 the family said weeding did not agree with her. 
 
 " Talk about the beautiful elevating influences of 
 early morning ! " exclaimed Bob. " It 's a snare 
 and delusion. Betty is a living warning."
 
 RICH ENOUGH. 153 
 
 When Betty had entirely given up expecting the 
 stranger, he reappeared. There was a rattling of 
 gravel on the other side of the wall, and by the 
 time he rose to the surface Betty was blushing 
 beautifully. 
 
 " Do you mind my speaking to you ? " he said, 
 looking down upon her. " It is so pleasant to know 
 that some one is on the other side of this wall, and 
 it would be a kindness if you would give me a word 
 now and then." 
 
 Betty smiled, and said frankly, " My family 
 would tell you that I like to talk better than to do 
 anything else." 
 
 " Yes, I 've noticed that you do a large share of 
 the talking," his face lighted up with a very at- 
 tractive smile. 
 
 " Then you do watch us ! " Betty exclaimed, look- 
 ing up from her roses. 
 
 " I ought not to, but a tennis court does not 
 seem like private ground, and it is a pleasure to 
 see young people having a good time." 
 
 " Dear me ! How old are you ? " Betty asked 
 bluntly. 
 
 He laughed. " About a thousand in feeling, 
 thirty-four in years." 
 
 Betty was shocked with herself. " Oh, that was 
 very rude of me. I did n't mean to ask you your 
 real age, only why you should speak as if you were 
 so old."
 
 154 RICH ENOUGH. 
 
 His face darkened. " Because I stopped living 
 long ago." 
 
 Betty was more and more distressed. "Dear 
 me ! I say the wrong thing every time," and 
 she went down on her knees and began to weed 
 vigorously, to conceal her dismay at the cloud she 
 had evoked. 
 
 After a silence, he spoke again. 
 
 " Don't you know what people think of me here ? " 
 
 Betty looked up and shook her head. 
 
 " That I am a murderer, besides having com- 
 mitted all the other sins imaginable," he laughed 
 bitterly. 
 
 " I don't believe a word of it ! " said Betty, indig- 
 nantly. At the same time she was glad the house 
 was so near and that it was broad daylight. 
 
 " Thank you ! I thought I ought to warn you 
 with whom you are associating. Do you know why 
 I spoke to you the other day ? " 
 
 A half smile crept around Betty's lips. " Because 
 you lost your knife," she said demurely. 
 
 He laughed with spontaneous mirth that time, 
 and it "was a pleasant laugh to hear. His arms 
 were crossed on the wall, and his deep eyes looked 
 very friendly. 
 
 " Because you seem to me the one truly happy 
 person I have ever seen in my life." 
 
 " Oh, but I have a great many trials," Betty 
 insisted, looking as serious as possible.
 
 EICH ENOUGH. 155 
 
 " Undoubtedly. Such as rain when you want 
 sunshine, and Sunday when you would rather have 
 Monday." 
 
 " Any one would think I was a child ten years 
 old ! " Betty's feelings were quite ruffled. 
 
 " I beg your pardon. I meant nothing of the 
 kind. But why should you object to being told that 
 you seem like a happy person ? That is the most 
 beautiful and unusual thing in the world." 
 
 " You sounded exactly as if you were saying, 
 * Play on, happy child, knowing nothing of the 
 world.' " Betty assumed a most patronizing tone. 
 
 The head disappeared. If Betty could have seen 
 the amusement that the wall concealed, she would 
 have been still more incensed. 
 
 " There, I 've offended his highness," thought 
 Betty. " I suppose he thinks because he is thirty- 
 four years old he can pat me on the head. I am 
 not going to talk to him unless he treats me like an 
 equal ; " and she moved farther down the border and 
 became absorbed in her work. 
 
 There was a cough so near that she sprang to her 
 feet in affright. There he was again, right above 
 her. 
 
 " What are you standing on ? " she asked invol- 
 untarily. 
 
 " The top of the cold frames," he said calmly. 
 " There is a line of them all along this wall." 
 
 This was too much for Betty. " I must go in,"
 
 156 RICH ENOUGH. 
 
 she said, and rising, she walked with great dignity 
 into the house. 
 
 The idea of talking with a man standing on top 
 of a cold frame ! What would people think if they 
 could see him there ? At the least, that his mind 
 was not quite right. Perhaps it was not. Should 
 she give up her morning hour- for gardening? It 
 was very undignified to go on in this way ; she was 
 quite ashamed of it. But she could not help won- 
 dering what he would say the next time. 
 
 She let her flowers fight the weeds alone for two 
 days, and then she slipped out very early in the 
 morning, when neighbors ought all to be asleep. 
 The morning was most beautiful ; the glory of the 
 rising sun yet illumined the heavens, the earth was 
 still but for the joyous matins of the song-birds. 
 She was not disturbed for a long time, then a voice 
 broke the quiet, 
 
 " Good-morning ! " 
 
 Betty jumped as much as if she had not expected 
 it, and cut off the head of her best rose, while her 
 hat flew off into the currant bushes. Her eccentric 
 neighbor was almost hidden by the branches of 
 the big linden, which hung down over the corner 
 of the wall. He laughed outright, and she was 
 exasperated. 
 
 " You should n't startle one like that. You are 
 the most incomprehensible being ! Why don't you 
 come out among people, like a man, instead of acting
 
 RICH ENOUGH. 157 
 
 like a Jack-in-the-box ?" Her cheeks glowed, and 
 her eyes sparkled with wrath. 
 
 " I '11 tell you, if you '11 let me, why I don't ' come 
 out among people, like a man,' " he said, with sudden 
 soberness. " May I ? " 
 
 " Betty, Betty ! " called Bob's voice from the study 
 door. 
 
 Betty sprang to her feet and flew across the lawn 
 to her twin. 
 
 " What is the matter ? " 
 
 " Matter ? Nothing. Don't look so scared. I 
 want company at breakfast, that 's all. Nobody 
 else is up, and you know I 've got to get off early to 
 meet Fletcher." 
 
 Bob's voice sounded aggrieved. His twin was 
 singularly inattentive to forget that he was starting 
 that morning for a two weeks' camping with his 
 chum. 
 
 Betty washed her hands in the kitchen, and was 
 feverishly devoted to Bob during his preparations 
 for departure, so he went away quite satisfied. 
 Betty felt really relieved at his absence just then, 
 for he would have surely discovered that she had 
 something on her mind. 
 
 " I would never have believed that I would con- 
 ceal anything in this way," she thought. " It is 
 really shocking, and I know I ought to put a stop 
 to it ; but I should like to know his story."
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 WHEN Betty awoke the next morning, it was to 
 hear the rain pouring down steadily, relent- 
 lessly. In a way it was a relief, for now there was 
 no question of weeding. But what a long day it 
 was! 
 
 She wandered from room to room until Marian 
 was aroused from her account-books to ask, 
 
 " What is the matter with you, Betty ? " 
 
 " Oh, this day is so stupid ! I 'm going over to 
 see Madam Salisbury." 
 
 " You '11 get soaked through." 
 
 But Betty was off, heedless of the warning, and 
 in a few moments was under shelter in the big 
 house. She was in the habit of letting herself in, 
 and she did so now, taking off her wet things in 
 the hall. She knocked on the library door, and 
 after an instant Madame Salisbury's voice said, 
 " Come in." 
 
 Betty opened the door with a bright smile, sure 
 of a welcome, and then her face changed, for be- 
 fore the wood fire sat not only Madame Salisbury, 
 but her garden acquaintance. 
 
 " Come in, my dear," said Madame, who had a
 
 RICH ENOUGH. 159 
 
 spot of color in either cheek, " come in and have 
 a cup of tea with us." 
 
 Betty walked in, stiffening as she went. 
 
 " I am glad to introduce your neighbor, Mr. 
 Copley, to you, my dear. This is Miss Elizabeth 
 Kent, Richard." 
 
 Richard Copley placed a chair for Betty, and 
 passed her a cup of tea with grave ceremony. 
 She would not look at him, and responded in 
 monosyllables to his attempts at conversation. 
 Madame Salisbury tried to draw her little friend 
 out of her unusual silence, but Betty seemed to 
 have frozen completely, and was entirely absorbed 
 in her cup of tea. She had never felt so uncom- 
 fortable in her life, and was only anxious for an 
 opportunity to get away ; but Madame Salisbury led 
 Mr. Copley to talk of his travels, and that Betty 
 could not help enjoying, for he had seen most 
 countries of the world, and had the gift of making 
 pictures in words. She finally so far forgot her 
 embarrassment as to steal a look at him. He 
 really looked better in a parlor than over a wall ; 
 in fact, he was quite distinguished looking here. 
 He was slender, and graceful in figure, and his face 
 was high-bred in its contour. 
 
 Betty suppressed a smile as she thought of the 
 contrast between their former interview and this 
 one ; then she caught a flash of comprehension 
 from his eyes, and froze again.
 
 160 EICH ENOUGH. 
 
 He went away soon after, and Madame Salisbury, 
 who seemed quite excited, called Betty to sit close 
 beside her. 
 
 " I am going to tell you Richard Copley's story, 
 my dear. He has never been willing to defend 
 himself in any way, but I have persuaded him 
 now that it is a duty which he owes himself to let 
 his friends speak for him." 
 
 It was not so romantic a story as some of those 
 which Betty had conjured up for herself ; still she 
 listened with absorbed interest, while Madame Salis- 
 bury told her of the two brothers who had never 
 been friends. Paul, the younger, was bright and 
 sunny in temperament, and made friends with 
 every one, while the elder, shy, and of a reserved 
 and sensitive nature, by comparison always ap- 
 peared at a disadvantage. 
 
 When they were in college, Paul's easy-going 
 nature led him into a very gay set, from which 
 Richard held himself aloof ; but many times he 
 helped his younger brother out of scrapes, and paid 
 his debts to shield him from their father. 
 
 " I knew it from his mother," said Madame Salis- 
 bury, " for Richard would never have spoken of it. 
 She used to mourn that Paul was so easily led, and 
 only she and Richard knew the serious defects in 
 his character. Richard had such a keen sense of 
 honor and was so high-spirited that very likely he 
 was injudicious in the way he talked to Paul, and
 
 EICH ENOUGH. 161 
 
 undoubtedly they had some bitter disputes. Rich- 
 ard gained the reputation of being jealous of his 
 brother's popularity, and of having a violent tem- 
 per. Nevertheless, I could not understand why 
 such suspicion should have fallen on him at Paul's 
 death. 
 
 " Yes ! there was a terrible accident, and Paul 
 was killed," as Betty uttered an excited excla- 
 mation. 
 
 Then she told how the brothers were out shoot-' 
 ing with some friends ; how they were a little apart 
 from the others, when their companions heard 
 angry voices, then a shot and an agonized scream, 
 and on rushing to the spot found Paul on the 
 ground, and Richard bending over him with a face 
 full of horror, exclaiming, " What have I done, 
 what have I done ! " 
 
 Paul never regained consciousness, so there was 
 no one to confirm Richard's explanation that he 
 had leaned his gun against a tree to take a letter 
 from his pocket which he wished to show Paul, and 
 in stepping forward he had struck his foot against 
 the gun. which, in falling, was discharged. At the 
 inquest no one disputed his story, and the verdict 
 was brought in of ' accidental death ; ' but among 
 Paul's friends there was a general opinion that in 
 a moment of passion Richard had actually fired the 
 shot with his o.wn hand. A feeling of that kind 
 spreads quickly, and before long he found himself 
 
 11
 
 162 RICH ENOUGH. 
 
 shunned by almost all his acquaintances. When 
 he realized the reason of it he was overwhelmed. 
 But the hardest blow was to find that his own 
 father seemed to share the general suspicion. 
 Paul had been his father's favorite, and he never 
 forgave the accident. For weeks he would not see 
 Richard, and although the poor boy begged for one 
 word of confidence, he withheld it, although he 
 never actually said he thought him guilty. 
 
 " How cruel ! " murmured Betty. 
 
 " Those were terrible days," said Madame Salis- 
 bury, with a sigh. " It makes my heart bleed to 
 recall them again. I think Richard would have 
 become insane if it had not been for his mother. 
 She understood him and had perfect faith in him. 
 He paid a heavy penalty for having been born with 
 a high temper, poor boy ! " 
 
 " Why, I think it was perfectly dreadful ! " said 
 Betty, who was much excited. " Did n't he have 
 any friends ? Why did n't they come forward and 
 defend him ? " 
 
 " Ah, my dear, an intangible foe is not easy to 
 combat. There were no direct accusations against 
 him." 
 
 " But if he knew he was innocent, why did n't he 
 face the world and live down the slander ? " Betty 
 spoke almost impatiently. 
 
 " He would have lived it down with his mother's 
 help, I am sure, but he was so imbittered by his
 
 RICH ENOUGH. 163 
 
 father's treatment that he would not stay under 
 the same roof, and went abroad. And then, while 
 he was away, she died suddenly, before he could 
 reach her. Richard came home, and there was 
 an outward reconciliation between father and 
 son, but Mr. Copley was a hard man. They 
 lived together for a year, and he never spoke to 
 Richard when speaking could be avoided. Then 
 he died without one word of exoneration ; but he 
 revoked a will in which he had given his property 
 to a charitable institution, and left everything to 
 Richard, which I think showed his real belief in 
 his son's innocence. 
 
 " Poor Richard ! how anxiously he looked through 
 his father's papers, hoping to find some written 
 word ! but there was nothing. He has never 
 touched one penny of the money, and says he 
 never will touch it. He lives on what his mother 
 left him." 
 
 " But what has he been doing all the time since 
 his father died ? " 
 
 " Travelling over the face of the earth. He 
 comes back occasionally, on business, I suppose, 
 and then is off again. I hope now that he will 
 settle down and win back his old friends, but I am 
 afraid he has grown indifferent to what people 
 think of him." 
 
 Betty was absent-minded. She was thinking of 
 some of the things said to her over the wall.
 
 164 RICH ENOUGH. 
 
 " I believe he does care what people say of him," 
 she said suddenly. 
 
 " What do you judge from ? " Madame Salis- 
 bury was surprised. 
 
 Betty hesitated, blushing a little. " Why, did n't 
 he give you permission to speak for him ? " she 
 asked rather lamely. 
 
 " Yes," Madame Salisbury looked thoughtful, 
 " but I persuaded him to that. I shall talk to 
 Dr. Penfield and your father, and I hope they will 
 receive him among their young people. Will you 
 ask your father to call on me this evening ? " 
 
 " I 'm sorry, but he won't be at home." 
 
 " Then to-morrow evening." 
 
 Betty took her way home very thoughtfully. 
 She could not realize in the least that her morning 
 acquaintance was the Richard Copley of Madame 
 Salisbury's story. If he were coming among them 
 in the ordinary way she didn't believe she ever 
 could be natural with him. 
 
 The introduction of Richard Copley into the 
 Kent circle did awaken some comment, but Madam 
 Salisbury so plainly arrayed herself on his side 
 that criticism was not outspoken. 
 
 He now joined the tennis players daily, and 
 though the presence of so silent a person caused 
 a little constraint at first, that soon wore away. 
 Mr. Copley was a fine player, but he usually pre- 
 ferred to look on ; so he talked with Madame Salis-
 
 RICH ENOUGH. 165 
 
 bury and dispensed tea for Marian, with whom he 
 became excellent friends. There seemed to be a 
 subtle sympathy between them, and they held such 
 long conversations that some jokes were exchanged 
 over the tennis net that made Betty frown. She 
 was not sure she liked this beautiful understanding 
 between her sister and Mr. Copley. She wondered 
 over it, and concluded that he had discovered how 
 much more there was to Marian than to herself. 
 She was always in the midst of things, and hardly 
 ever had a word for him. 
 
 The circle was a large one in these days, their 
 town friends finding their garden a pleasant 
 meeting place. Jack Duncan and Will came out 
 often at the end of the afternoon. Will had gone 
 into the law office of Scott & Duncan, and was 
 developing an interest in work, which surprised 
 everybody. 
 
 His sisters had opened their eyes wide over this 
 step. Will, refusing invitations to the Adirondacks 
 and Newport for the sake of working, incredible ! 
 Will did not confide his reasons to them, but to 
 Mollie Penfield he explained that it was a great 
 advantage to a man to get some idea of office 
 work before he was admitted to the bar. 
 
 He liked Mollie Penfield. She took it as a 
 matter of course that he should try to get on 
 in his profession and sacrifice himself for the sake 
 of it, while the girls seemed to think it a most
 
 166 RICH ENOUGH. 
 
 remarkable proceeding. Even Marian did not 
 take him very seriously. He could talk to Mollie 
 Penfield of his new plans and hopes, for her eyes 
 were full of sympathy. When he deplored the 
 hollow aims of society she did not laugh. By 
 believing in him she gave him just the stimulus 
 which his temperament needed. 
 
 Jack Duncan was sharing rooms with him 
 again up town, for Rocky District in summer was 
 unbearable as a residence to any but indigenous 
 inhabitants. He visited his club daily, and Mrs. 
 Bassett could not be kept out of the district. 
 Early and late she was there, hot but pursuing. 
 She had slipped into the place of dictator in vari- 
 ous families until she was financial manager for a 
 dozen, "by request only," she would say, when 
 Bob teased her. She was very proud of the way 
 she had brought some of her discouraged clients 
 out of debt and proved to them that they could live 
 on their wages. It was the discouraged men who 
 so easily drifted into the saloons, she found, and 
 she was ready to contest the district with the 
 saloon-keepers ! 
 
 Marian kept the management of the store in her 
 own hands, but one of the club members who had 
 been thrown out of work was installed as salesman 
 under Mrs. Bassett's watchful eye. 
 
 " There 's no sense in your killing yourself this 
 weather," she said to Marian. " I 'm old and tough,
 
 RICH ENOUGH. 167 
 
 and can stand it ; but you 'd wilt. You 've got to 
 save up for fall." 
 
 Uncle George had been very much pleased with 
 the way Marian had taken up the work, and with 
 her business-like reports, and was ready to help 
 her in her plans for the next season to almost any 
 extent. 
 
 She and Jack Duncan had so many schemes to 
 talk over, and were so involved in figures, that 
 Betty considered them very stupid company, and 
 told them so with great frankness. 
 
 " I wish you were n't always talking about your 
 ' work.' I come up hoping to get something fresh 
 and interesting to think about, and it is always that 
 same old club ! Why don't you try to elevate and 
 inspire me ? Tennis does n't always fill my soul." 
 
 She began to look after her flowers, which she 
 had sadly neglected, and worked without interrup- 
 tion for several days. Finally she looked up one 
 morning to see Mr. Copley leaning over the wall, 
 watching her. Naturally she colored, but said 
 good-morning and went on with her work. 
 
 " I suppose now," he remarked, " there is no harm 
 in my speaking to you over the wall ? " 
 
 " No," she returned soberly ; " but what is the 
 sense when you can talk to me anywhere ? " 
 
 " I did n't know that I could. I have somehow 
 gathered the impression that you did not care to 
 have me speak to you."
 
 168 RICH ENOUGH. 
 
 " I never told you that." Betty's spirits began to 
 rise. 
 
 "You didn't need to put it in words. But I 
 would just like to ask you if you think it was kind 
 to admit me to your circle and then show me that 
 you despised me ? " 
 
 " What ! " Betty's whole figure was an exclama- 
 tion point and a question mark in one. 
 
 " Yes. Did I not tell you that I wanted you to 
 know my story, and did you not hear it from 
 Madame Salisbury ? And since then, even though 
 I have been invited to your house, have n't you 
 ignored me and shown me how unwelcome I am 
 every day ? " 
 
 " Never ! " said Betty, aghast at this arraignment. 
 " I should think you would have known by my 
 father's asking you, what we thought about your 
 story and how sorry we were for you ! " 
 
 " Sorry ! Do you think I want to be pitied ? " 
 
 " Well, you need not be rude. What do you 
 want, anyway ? " 
 
 " What do I want ? You talk as if I were 
 a beggar ! " Mr. Copley was getting angry. 
 " You have n't the sympathetic heart your sister 
 has." 
 
 " I know it ; I am not half so nice as she is," - 
 and Betty went on with her clipping. 
 
 " You are a very aggravating person." 
 
 " You are a most surprising one. You seem
 
 RICH ENOUGH. 169 
 
 .like a self-controlled individual, and yet you 
 break out like a volcano without the slightest 
 provocation." 
 
 " I think I have considerable provocation." 
 
 " Why ? " Betty was picking a glowing rose, and 
 seemed absorbed in avoiding the thorns. 
 
 He sighed. 
 
 " I will tell you what I think of you." She looked 
 up suddenly. " I think you are horribly morbid. 
 Madame Salisbury says you have become indifferent 
 to what people say of you. I don't believe it. You 
 are so sensitive, if you like that better, that you 
 imagine all sorts of things, when probably people 
 are n't thinking about you at all ! I can't under- 
 stand you in the least. If I were you, I would force 
 the world to believe me. I would never have run 
 away from it." 
 
 Mr. Copley's face grew paler and paler ; at the 
 end of Betty's little dictum he lifted his hat with- 
 out a word and disappeared. Then quick contrition 
 seized her. " How cruel he will think me ! " she 
 thought. " Why, I did n't say one nice thing, and 
 I am really so sorry for him. No wonder he thinks 
 I have no heart." 
 
 She watched anxiously for him to appear on the 
 tennis ground that afternoon, but he did not come, 
 and she was the prey of remorse. The next day 
 he arrived while she was in the midst of a set, but 
 the moment it was ended she went to him.
 
 170 RICH ENOUGH. 
 
 " Won't you play this next set with me ? " she 
 asked. 
 
 He hesitated, but she looked at him so beseech- 
 ingly he could not refuse, and he followed her to 
 the court. It was not long before Betty in serving 
 managed to send all the balls into the currant 
 bushes. While the other side were hunting for 
 them, she drew near her partner. 
 
 " I am so ashamed of myself," she began without 
 prelude. " I ought not to have said what I did 
 yesterday. You have suffered enough to do what 
 you like the rest of your life. Do forgive me ! " 
 
 "You were right, though," he said, without a 
 spark of his former fire. 
 
 " It was none of my business, and please don't 
 think me unsympathetic. I am just as sorry as I 
 can be." Betty spoke breathlessly for fear of in- 
 terruption. Mr. Copley smiled at her. 
 
 " I have nothing to forgive," he said rather sadly, 
 and the game went on. 
 
 " Oh, dear, what can I do to make him forget 
 what I said ? " she thought. " It 's dreadful for him 
 to feel as he does. We must get him out of it."
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 BETTY threw herself into her new missionary 
 work with the greatest ardor. From ignor- 
 ing Richard Copley completely, she suddenly turned 
 to bestowing most of her attention upon him, to 
 the amazement of her friends. Her brightest sal- 
 lies were directed to him. She made a point of 
 drawing him into the conversation. 
 
 " What has come over her ? " Jack asked Mar- 
 ian one day as they sat a little apart. Betty in her 
 white gown was sitting beside Richard Copley, ask- 
 ing question after question about Switzerland with 
 the most eager attention, and insisting on the rest 
 of the group listening too. 
 
 " Melancholy people have a perfect fascination 
 for Betty, and she always seems to get on well with 
 them. Just see how he is smiling now ! " Marian 
 laughed. 
 
 Then they went back to their discussion of coun- 
 try excursions for their Rocky District friends, 
 while Madame Salisbury closed her eyes for a little 
 nap, and the small Penfields were left in undis- 
 turbed possession of the court. 
 
 " How we miss Bob ! " Betty said suddenly, 
 turning to May Vinton, who sat near her.
 
 172 RICH ENOUGH. 
 
 "Lucky young beggar!" growled Will. "Here 
 I am blistering in a city office, while he 's loafing 
 for all he's worth." 
 
 " If he were here, he 'd get it up in a minute," 
 continued Betty. 
 
 " Get what up ? " asked Theodore. 
 
 " Why, a trip to the mountain. Did n't you hear 
 what Mr. Copley was saying about seeing the sun- 
 rise from Mt. Righi ? I say that we can see a 
 sunrise ourselves, if we can't go to Switzerland, and 
 it would be different from anything else we have 
 ever done." 
 
 " You mean go up on Bald Mountain to see the 
 sunrise ? " demanded Will. " That is the craziest 
 thing you 've thought of yet, Betty." 
 
 " It is n't crazy at all. You 'd go, would n't you, 
 May?" 
 
 " Why, of course," she responded promptly. 
 
 " There ! What time should we have to start ? " 
 
 " Start ? Why, the sun rises at half-past four 
 now." Will was disgusted. 
 
 " Then we ought to start by three o'clock," said 
 Betty, promptly. 
 
 " You think you are going to carry this thing 
 through ? " Will leaned on his elbow and looked 
 up at his sister. 
 
 " Of course I do. Why shouldn't we, once in our 
 lives, do something different ? " 
 
 " Shall you go ? " and Will turned to Mollie.
 
 EICH ENOUGH. 173 
 
 " If Betty wants to very much." 
 
 " Oh, you are too good-natured ! " 
 
 Betty made her plans firmly. It would be noth- 
 ing, of course, to rise at three o'clock and take an 
 hour's walk. Theodore could easily get into town 
 after it in time for business. The party could 
 meet at their house, and they would carry their 
 breakfast with them. Marian should be made to 
 go, and the rest could do as they pleased. 
 
 " Can we count on you, Mr. Copley ? " Betty asked. 
 
 " At your service," he returned at once, " but 
 why don't you turn it into a sunset party ? " 
 
 " We might do that," Betty meekly assented ; at 
 which Will again rose on his elbow and looked at 
 her. 
 
 "If you will," Mr. Copley hesitated, "I 
 would like to invite you all to drive to Bald Moun- 
 tain and take supper there. Then we could stay, 
 if you like," he addressed himself to Betty, 
 " and come home by moonlight." 
 
 " Like it ? That would be simply gorgeous ! " 
 
 " Then you will go ? " 
 
 "Go!" said Will, "I should think we would. 
 I prefer your invitation to Betty's, myself." 
 
 Mr. Copley asked everybody. The young Pen- 
 fields were overcome with delight at being included. 
 Madame Salisbury was the only one who declined. 
 
 " But you must have a chaperon, Richard," she 
 said.
 
 174 RICH ENOUGH. 
 
 " Mr. Kent will go, I hope ; and can't the doctor 
 get away ? " he turned to Mollie. 
 
 " How I wish he might ! " 
 
 " We '11 make him," said Betty. " No one has 
 any right to be sick in this weather." 
 
 Richard Copley came out of his shell surprisingly 
 in managing his party. When ready to start, the 
 array was quite imposing. Richard led, with Betty 
 on the seat beside him, and was in his best mood, 
 guiding his horses with a practised hand and enter- 
 ing sympathetically into his companion's gayety. 
 
 Will was in charge of the next carriage, very 
 animated and his most charming self. The two 
 fathers had elected to go in the wagonette with the 
 small people, and they managed to discuss the 
 tariff, at the same time keeping the boys from tum- 
 bling out and breaking their heads. 
 
 To make the way longer, they took a wide cir- 
 cuit through the hills. The sinking sun cast long 
 shadows, the air was soft and balmy, the horses 
 went at a fine pace. 
 
 " Oh, I am so happy ! " Betty sighed. " I feel as 
 if I were flying, and everything is so beautiful in 
 this light." 
 
 " I should like to drive you over the Corniche 
 Road," said Richard. " You would feel like a 
 bird then, looking down from those heights to the 
 Mediterranean. It is a wonderful sight." 
 
 " Don't make me discontented with my native
 
 RICH ENOUGH. 175 
 
 country, but tell me more about it," Betty said 
 illogically ; and as he told her of winding up from 
 the roses and palms of Nice through the soft, gray- 
 green olive orchards to the grim rocky fastnesses 
 above, she drew a long breath. 
 
 " Oh, how I would like to see it all ! " 
 
 " You probably will some day." 
 
 " Oh, never, never ! I was made to plod along 
 in the suburbs of things, getting everything from 
 hearsay." 
 
 When they drove up on Bald Mountain, instead 
 of a deserted summit they found a fire brightly 
 crackling, with a tea-kettle swinging over it on 
 forked sticks, cushions arranged in the shelter of a 
 clump of cedars, and the tablecloth already spread. 
 
 " If this is n't luxury, I 'm mistaken ; " and Will 
 threw himself down among the cushions. 
 
 Richard's domestic corps had arranged every- 
 thing under his faithful old Roger, and there 
 was nothing for the guests to do but to take their 
 ease. 
 
 " Suppose we have supper immediately," pro- 
 posed the host, " and then we can give our whole 
 attention to the sunset." 
 
 The Penfield boys eagerly seconded this motion. 
 It is doubtful if they enjoyed the feast that followed 
 quite as much as if they had felt free to skirmish 
 about all they wanted to, but Richard showed great 
 tact. They were all allowed to help one another
 
 176 RICH ENOUGH. 
 
 enough to make it a picnic, yet every one was 
 sufficiently waited on to make it unnecessary to 
 rise and rush about after things. 
 
 " Well, Betty, is n't this an improvement on your 
 scheme ? " demanded William, sipping hot coffee 
 with great relish. " Think of dragging up here 
 in the dark, getting your feet soaked in the dew, 
 and then shivering on the edge of a rock while the 
 sun came up ! " 
 
 " 1 am thinking of waiting over to see the sun 
 rise," said Betty, calmly ; " that is what they do in 
 Switzerland." 
 
 " Well, we are in the land of common sense, 
 thank Heaven ! " 
 
 When the sun began to fall rapidly down in the 
 west, Betty sought a place on the very edge of the 
 spur, " so to be nearer," and there she perched and 
 gave herself to the beauty of the scene. 
 
 The heavens glowed witli color all about them. 
 The long golden rays streamed down upon the 
 valley, and the bay was turned into liquid fire. As 
 the colors softened into rose and amber tints, a 
 quiet mood fell upon the company. Dr. Penfield 
 quoted poetry, and the young people listened. 
 Kichard drew near to Betty, who still sat apart. 
 
 " Do you object to company ?" he asked softly. 
 
 " Oh, no. I didn't feel as if I were in the sun- 
 set back there. Here it is like resting on a cloud 
 and being part of it."
 
 RICH ENOUGH. 177 
 
 " I think I have heard you say that you always 
 like to be in the midst of things. Now, I prefer to 
 be a looker-on." Mr. Copley sat down on the 
 ledge beside Betty. 
 
 " I don't believe," she said reflectively, " that you 
 were always that way, were you ? " 
 
 Then fearing he would think she referred to his 
 trouble, she hurried on : 
 
 " I suppose that travelling about as much as you 
 have has made you get into the way of studying 
 people and places just as you do anything on the 
 stage ; you are not a part of it, really." 
 
 " Yes, and that is why it is better for a man to 
 stay in his own country, I think, and make himself 
 necessary to it." 
 
 " And are you going to stay at home now ? " 
 
 " Oh, I was speaking of men in general. No 
 rules apply to me." 
 
 " I don't see," said Betty, with her usual frank- 
 ness, " why you always talk that way. Why 
 should n't you make a place for yourself, like any 
 other man ? " 
 
 " It is too late," he said, sighing. " A man needs 
 youth, and hope, and belief in himself for that. I 
 have none of those things. I don't miss them on 
 the other side of the water as I do here." 
 
 " I wonder you come back at all." 
 
 " So do I. But " He hesitated, then with a 
 sudden impulse, 
 
 12
 
 178 RICH ENOUGH. 
 
 " I '11 tell you why if you are sure it won't bore 
 you." 
 
 " I should like to have you tell me," she said. 
 
 " I can't help feeling," his voice sank low, " that 
 somewhere in the house there is hidden away a 
 letter or something from my father ; something to 
 tell me that after all he believed in me. When 
 I found that everything had been left to me, I knew 
 my father felt he had wronged me, and I thought 
 of course there would be a letter for me among his 
 papers, but I have never yet found it. And that is 
 why I come back. I think of some new place in 
 which to look, and I cannot keep away." 
 
 " But was n't his leaving you the property his 
 way of showing you how he felt ? " 
 
 " It does not satisfy me. I vowed never to touch 
 a penny of my father's money unless I found a 
 written exoneration from him, and I shall keep that 
 vow." There was the very essence of pride in his 
 tone. " Could I do anything else ? " 
 
 " I don't wonder you feel so, but what has that 
 to do with your shutting yourself up like a hermit ? 
 It 's well enough to decline your inheritance, but 
 there is no reason for making a recluse of yourself 
 when you know you are innocent." 
 
 There was a long silence, and then Betty went on : 
 
 " I know I am terribly practical, and I suppose 
 you will say again that I am unsympathetic, 
 but "
 
 RICH ENOUGH. 179 
 
 " I would only say that you have a great deal of 
 common sense." There was a tinge of amusement 
 in Mr. Copley's voice, though there was some 
 chagrin. Betty was ruthless. Probably if she had 
 suffered herself she would have been better able to 
 appreciate his feelings. 
 
 " No," Betty declared, " it is only that you are so 
 morbid, and nobody else tells you so. You get 
 enough sympathy from Madame Salisbury and 
 Marian. I think you need tonics ! " 
 
 " You are a pretty good dose of medicine," he 
 said in a nettled tone. 
 
 " There, that sounds like the boy you used to be, 
 I know. How we should have quarrelled, and 
 what fun it would have been ! " 
 
 " Do you like quarrelling better than anything 
 else?" 
 
 " I like some spice in life." 
 
 The twilight deepened, and the Penfield boys 
 collected wood and made a bonfire on the embers of 
 the supper fire. They all gathered around, and Mr. 
 Copley and Betty were called to tell stories. Betty 
 was very quiet. She sat where she could see the 
 light fall on Richard's face. 
 
 Why had n't she been nicer ? Somehow, though 
 she meant to be so sympathetic, she was always 
 just the reverse. He looked so sad, and she had 
 been flippant. He was morbid, only she need n't 
 keep telling him so.
 
 180 RICH ENOUGH. 
 
 
 When the moon was well up the horses were 
 
 put in, and they prepared for their homeward 
 journey. 
 
 " Now he '11 invite somebody else to sit with 
 him," thought Betty. 
 
 But he did not, and they drove on for a long time 
 in silence. Then Betty said contritely, 
 
 " I won't be a ' dose ' any more ; do speak to me." 
 
 Richard laughed. 
 
 " I know I disappointed you. I always do say 
 the wrong thing, but really, I only meant that you 
 need n't be so unhappy now. I know it was dread- 
 ful, but I can't help thinking that now your mother 
 and father know all about it and understand you, 
 and there is n't any reason for you to brood over 
 the past." 
 
 " Do you believe," he asked, " that the friends 
 we lose are near enough to us to know what is 
 happening to us ? " 
 
 " Yes, indeed I do. I could not reason it out, 
 but I am sure of it. Often I feel that my mother 
 is right beside me, and it is such a comfort, for she 
 understands it all ; and my mistakes don't change 
 her love," Betty ended with a little sob. Never v 
 had she told any one this sacred bit of experience 
 before. How had she come to do it ? 
 
 Her companion did not speak for some time, then 
 he said gently, " Thank you, Miss Betty ; you al- 
 ways do me good."
 
 RICH ENOUGH. 181 
 
 " Even when I make you angry ? " with an un- 
 certain little laugh. 
 
 " Yes, even then. You 've given my pride some 
 pretty hard knocks, but it is good for me, un- 
 doubtedly." 
 
 " I am just as interested as I can be in that 
 letter you think your father wrote, and I do hope 
 you will find it. Is n't there any one who would 
 be likely to know if he wrote such a letter ? " 
 
 " Roger would, if any one, but he knows nothing." 
 
 It almost took Richard's breath away to be 
 calmly talking over what he had always maintained 
 such a proud silence about before. It was like 
 having a fresh breeze blowing through a haunted 
 house. 
 
 They swept along the coast on the return in the 
 glorious moonlight, and it was at a very late hour 
 that they drew up in Berkeley S
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 AS fall drew near Betty's spirits began to flag. 
 The thought of the coming winter oppressed 
 her. She had such a deserted feeling ! Her twin 
 had not returned from the mountains, and would 
 not do so until college opened ; his two weeks had 
 prolonged themselves in an indefinite way. Marian 
 and Mrs. Bassett were taking up the work in Rocky 
 District with renewed energy. Mollie was always 
 " so busy," and hardly came near them. Will only 
 dropped in occasionally, and then very late in the 
 evening, and Richard Copley had gone off on a 
 canoeing trip. 
 
 " I don't know what has come over everybody," 
 she sighed to Madame Salisbury. " We all seem to 
 be going different ways, and every one is absent- 
 minded and queer. I wish something would 
 happen to wake us all up. The summer was so 
 pleasant ; but now everything seems to have come 
 to an end. May Yinton is going abroad this winter. 
 Oh, what bliss for her! but I shall miss her 
 dreadfully. And I suppose Mr. Copley will go off, 
 too, and his house be shut up. We shall just settle 
 down and be so dull, it will be awful."
 
 RICH ENOUGH. 183 
 
 The return of Bob was wonderfully cheering. 
 He appeared unexpectedly one day just at twilight, 
 and ingulfed his twin in a large hug. Betty was 
 inclined after the first rapture to be a little cool. 
 
 " You Ve stayed away long enough, I should 
 think, having such a good time you could n't 
 remember your family ! But I never believed that 
 you would desert your twin in this way." 
 
 " Duty before pleasure is our watchword now," 
 returned Bob, serenely, as he stretched himself on 
 the window-seat in Cosey Corner. " You look par- 
 ticularly flourishing, I should say ; I don't believe 
 you have missed me one bit." 
 
 " Well, I like that," and Betty perched on the 
 arm of the chair near him and pinched her twin's 
 ear. "I wasn't going to pine away just because 
 you preferred camp life to my society, but I have 
 felt it, and oh, Bob, everybody is getting so ab- 
 sorbed, I don't know what to do with myself. I 
 have n't anything to show for the summer, have 
 you ? " 
 
 " Yes, I have ;" and Bob pulled out a purse from 
 his pocket with the air of a millionaire. " Look at 
 that!" 
 
 Betty opened it and counted "five, ten, fifteen," 
 as far as ' one hundred. " Why, Robert Kent, what 
 does this mean ? " 
 
 " Mean ? Why, I 've been supporting myself, 
 that 's all. No bills for Father, and this to begin
 
 184 RICH ENOUGH. 
 
 the year with. That 's the way I 've been having a 
 good time and forgetting my family." Bob cast a 
 reproachful look at Betty. 
 
 " How did you do it ? " she was too much inter- 
 ested to notice the reproach. 
 
 " Well, prepare yourself for a shock. I Ve been 
 clerk in a summer hotel. There, I knew you 'd 
 take it in that way," as Betty sank with a gasp on 
 the floor. " That 's why I did n't write you about 
 it. It happened this way. I was up there in camp 
 with the boys, having a fine time, and of course we 
 went over to the hotel, lots, huge place, full of 
 swells, and the clerk was a Harvard chap, so we 
 used to talk with him. Well, he had to leave, and 
 I says to myself, ' Robert, here 's your chance,' and 
 walks up to the landlord. He said he 'd try me, 
 so I 've finished up the season for him, and I 've 
 been a howling success." 
 
 " Did any one you know see you ? " 
 
 " I should think so ! Newcombes, Peterboroughs, 
 everybody I ever met in my life trooped up there 
 this year. It was funny, and I tell you, you can 
 pick out real blood every time. The people of ' un- 
 questioned position,' as Aunt Cornelia would say, 
 treated me just as they would if they 'd met me 
 at a ball. The Bradleys, on the other hand, were 
 very chilly until they saw out of the tail of their 
 eyes that the Knickerbockers treated me like a 
 friend and brother, and then they grew as balmy
 
 RICH ENOUGH. 185 
 
 as a southern zephyr. I tell you, it was fun. I 
 was so polite to them it nearly choked me, but I 
 never went near them out of the office, and I did n't 
 ask those girls to dance once." 
 
 " You went to the hops ? And who would dance 
 with a hotel clerk, I 'd like to know ? " 
 
 " You would n't ! But then, you always were a 
 little snob. See here, I 'm going to take my stand 
 on just this, and I believe it 's the true American 
 platform : The work you do does n't make one bit 
 of difference, and if you can't make people respect 
 you whether you are a hod-carrier or a senator, it 's 
 your own fault ! I am going to do any respectable 
 work that I can find to do, and if I can't make it 
 dignified, I 'in a chump, that 's all ! " 
 
 " I suppose it 's the right spirit," said Betty, 
 mournfully, " but I don't like to have my brother a 
 clerk." 
 
 " That 's just the Aunt Cornelia of you, my dear, 
 and I 'd root it out if I were you ; it is not worthy 
 of your country. What 's the use of being a free- 
 born American if you are going to cling to all the 
 worn-out traditions of effete civilization. Why 
 should your brothers be singled out and spared 
 work?" 
 
 Poor Betty ! Her feelings were destined to re- 
 ceive another shock that day. Will dropped into 
 dinner looking particularly handsome. He an- 
 nounced while they were taking their coffee in the
 
 186 RICH ENOUGH. 
 
 parlor that Scott & Duncan had offered him a salary 
 for the coming year. " I know, of course," he said 
 with unusual modesty, " that it 's through Duncan 
 that his uncle has given me the chance ; still, I 
 think he likes the way I 've worked this summer." 
 
 The sisters fairly fell on his neck with delight. 
 
 " Of course he does," said Marian. " I always 
 knew that when you got a start you 'd make your 
 mark, how proud we shall be of you ! Now can't 
 you live at home ? " 
 
 Will looked pleased. This tone of cordial 
 approval was something he did not often hear. 
 
 " I can't do that," he said in answer to Marian's 
 question, " for I must go to lectures evenings. 
 But as you all say I don't know how to economize, 
 I 'm going to get some one to take care of me." 
 
 " What do you mean ? " demanded Betty, " a 
 guardian ? " 
 
 " No," laughed Bob, " he means a wife ! " 
 
 " Yes," said Will, calmly, " I do mean that." 
 
 " What ! Who ? You don't mean it ! " came in 
 excited chorus from his listeners. 
 
 "Who? Well, I shouldn't think you would 
 need to ask, you seem fond enough of her ! " and 
 Will looked aggrieved. " Of course it's Mollie." 
 
 " Mollie ! " from Marian, with absolute incre- 
 dulity. " Mollie ! " from Betty, with such won- 
 dering disappointment in her voice that Bob felt it 
 necessary to rise to the occasion. " Mollie ! Good
 
 RICH ENOUGH. 187 
 
 for you, old fellow. You're a judge," and he 
 grasped Will's hand. 
 
 " Why. of course we knew you liked her," gasped 
 Marian, " but we never thought it was serious." 
 
 Their attempts at congratulation were so forced 
 that Will withdrew to the study to confer with his 
 father with a clouded brow. 
 
 "Well, I do think," remonstrated Bob, "that 
 you might have pretended to be pleased whether 
 you were or not. Poor old chap, he does n't know 
 that girls may seem fond enough of some one to 
 eat her, but when it comes to her marrying their 
 brother, they take it as if he had proposed to marry 
 the cook." 
 
 " It 's worse ! The cook might have saved up 
 some wages," said Betty. 
 
 " There you go ! " exclaimed Bob. " You are 
 the most mercenary little wretch in existence ! I 
 don't deny that when our eldest said he was going 
 to get some one to take care of him I immediately 
 thought of a rich wife, but I do admire him down 
 to the ground for appreciating Mollie Penfield. 
 Why, it will just make a man of him to work 
 for her ! Can't you get up some enthusiasm, 
 Marian?" 
 
 " I am so stunned ! " Marian said. " I can't 
 realize it at all. Why, I should have thought that 
 Will would want style, and air, and all that sort 
 of thing. I knew he liked to be with Mollie, but I
 
 188 RICH ENOUGH. 
 
 thought he was flattered because she admires him 
 and is so interested in everything he does." 
 
 " WeU, you 've just got to brace up and act 
 pleased," said Bob, with decision, " or Will will 
 never forget it. Now or never is your chance. I 
 warn you that when I make any such announce- 
 ment, you 've got to do better by me than you 've 
 done by him, or I '11 never speak to you again." 
 
 " But, Bob, how are they going to live ?" asked 
 Betty. " His ' salary ' that he talks about is only 
 three hundred, and that with his ' independent 
 means 'is " 
 
 " That 's none of your business. Will has a 
 perfect right to marry when he pleases, and whom 
 he pleases, and you ought to be thankful that he 
 has chosen with so much sense ! " 
 
 Thus vigorously tutored, the sisters were ready, 
 when Will reappeared, to smile upon him. 
 
 " She is a darling ! " Marian whispered, slipping 
 her hand through his arm. 
 
 " You know I love Mollie dearly, and I '11 go 
 over the first thing in the morning and give her a 
 sisterly hug," said Betty. 
 
 " Thank you," said Will, looking gratified, and 
 he kissed them good-by with more warmth than he 
 had ever shown before. " Mollie thinks somehow 
 that you girls won't be pleased, and she '11 be 
 awfully glad to see you." 
 
 " I '11 walk along with you, old boy," said Bob,
 
 RICH ENOUGH. 189 
 
 whose brotherly affection seemed immensely stirred 
 by this new development. 
 
 " Oh, Madame Salisbury, something has happened ! 
 What do you think it is ? " and Betty flew in upon 
 her old friend, as she sat before her coffee urn, with 
 such excitement that the dear little lady rose to her 
 feet instinctively. 
 
 " Oh, I did n't mean to frighten you, but I had 
 to come over the minute I knew you were down, to 
 tell you. Will, our Will, is engaged ! What do you 
 think of that ? And who do you think he is going 
 to marry ! You 'd never guess in the world ! " 
 
 " Mollie Penfield, of course! " and Madame Salis- 
 bury smiled at the look of amazement on Betty's 
 face. 
 
 " You saw it coming all the time ? " Betty 
 dropped into a chair, and leaned her elbows on the 
 table in a most incorrect attitude. 
 
 " Why, Madame Salisbury, why did n't you warn 
 me ! Of course I love Mollie dearly, and long to 
 have her happy, but don't you see we have always 
 expected such great things of Will. We have 
 scolded him because he was so lazy, but he has 
 always been so swell, and we really have been 
 BO proud of him ! I thought at least he would 
 marry a princess. Why, I can't conceive of his 
 settling down in a back street and living on nothing 
 a year, and that is just what he '11 have to do. 
 And to think that he wants to ! " Betty gave a com-
 
 190 RICH ENOUGH. 
 
 ical shrug to her shoulders. " Now, Madame Salis- 
 bury, would you ever have supposed that Mollie 
 would be the kind of girl to attract Will ? " 
 
 " Nothing of that kind would ever surprise me, 
 my dear. I have seen too much of life. It raises 
 your brother very much in my estimation that he 
 should have the discrimination to appreciate the 
 fineness of Mollie's character. Her family is all 
 that one could ask ; her mother is a Van Hook, you 
 know," said Madame Salisbury, with what Betty 
 called her royal air. 
 
 " Oh, I know, I know. It 's vulgar to want a gilt 
 frame to your picture. But I did want one member 
 of the Kent family to have a rich setting ! " and 
 Betty rose. " Now I must go over and welcome my 
 new sister." 
 
 " Betty," said Madame Salisbury, solemnly, 
 " don't ever marry for money. It is sure to bring 
 unhappiness." 
 
 There was a moment of shyness when the two 
 girls met; but when Mollie said, " Oh, Betty," in 
 such a deprecating tone, blushing shyly, how could 
 that young person hold out against her? She 
 clasped Mollie to her heart with a suspicious mois- 
 ture in her eyes, though the melodramatic way in 
 which she said, " My long-sought sister ! " made 
 Mollie laugh, and rescued the situation from the 
 pathetic. 
 
 " I did n't think you 'd like it, but I could n't help
 
 RICH ENOUGH. 191 
 
 it ! " said Mollie, naively, as they sat down side by 
 side. And then she talked of Will in a way that 
 removed all Betty's lingering regrets, and at the 
 same time filled her with wonder. The love, the 
 admiration, the belief in him, seemed marvellous. 
 As she told Marian afterwards, 
 
 " It ought to turn a man into an angel to have 
 any one feel like that about him ! " 
 
 A few mornings later Mollie came running in 
 with shining eyes and rosy cheeks, waving a piece 
 of paper. 
 
 " See this ! see this ! " she cried. " See what 
 Uncle Lansing has sent me for my ' toggery,' as he 
 calls it," and she held out a check for one thousand 
 dollars. " Is n't it lovely, lovely ? 
 
 " I am going to have mother's sitting-room done 
 over in the loveliest colors oh, how I have longed 
 to do it ! and fix up the parlor. The sequence 
 shall have new suits all at once, just think of that ! 
 all new at the same time ! And mother shall have 
 a lavender silk gown, you don't know how sweet 
 she is in lavender. Oh, dear, I am so happy ! And 
 Lillian shall have a string of gold beads, oh, and 
 a white India muslin! " 
 
 Marian and Betty laughed aloud. " Where are 
 you coming in ? " Marian asked, putting her arm 
 around the excited little body. 
 
 " Why, I could never spend all that on myself," 
 Mollie said, with conviction.
 
 192 RICH ENOUGH. 
 
 But her father took a decided stand on that point. 
 He deposited her money, and brought her a bank- 
 book, saying : 
 
 " Now you are a woman with a bank-account. 
 You can spend every cent of it, if you want to, or 
 you can be prudent and save it. But, whatever you 
 do, it 's for your own individual use. You 've done 
 all for the Penfield family that I shall let you do. 
 I Ve never told you, my little girl, what a comfort 
 you 've been to your old father. It 's been a trial to 
 me that I could n't do for my children what I wanted 
 to do, but you 've taken it so bravely, my dear, that 
 you 've helped me to keep my courage through many 
 a hard place." 
 
 Mollie's heart glowed, and she threw her arms 
 around her father's neck. It was not often that his 
 Scotch reticence was broken through, and she was 
 too much moved to speak. 
 
 " The prospect of your wedding seems to have 
 turned the Penfield luck," the doctor went on. 
 " Some of my old patients, from whom I never ex- 
 pected to collect a cent, have been moved to settle 
 up, and we '11 have the old house freshened in 
 honor of its first wedding." 
 
 " But I want to do something myself," said Mollie. 
 " It will make me so much happier." 
 
 " Well, give your mother and Lillian something, 
 if you want to, but I '11 take care of the boys."
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 A GAINST the dictates of prudence, worldly 
 AJL wisdom, and all those uncomfortable things, 
 Will insisted on having their wedding just as soon 
 as Mollie could be ready. They were willing to 
 economize strictly, and would be so much happier 
 to begin together, why should they wait ? 
 
 Will's rashness in this instance was encouraged 
 by Uncle George. " Glad of it, glad of it ! " he said 
 to Marian, when she went in one day to show him 
 her account-book. 
 
 " I believe in young people beginning in a small 
 way and working up together. We used to do it in 
 my day, and it did us no harm. We were n't so 
 calculating as the young people are now. I respect 
 Will for feeling as he does, and I'll back him. In 
 fact," and Uncle George began to look shy, 
 " I 've always meant when the boys really started out 
 in life to give them a little send-off. I 've put a little 
 something in the bank for Will ; it will help him 
 out on his furnishing. You just give him this," and 
 he handed Marian a small packet. 
 
 "You are a dear!" she said; "but if all the 
 uncles are going to aid and abet the children in this 
 way, of course they won't be prudent." 
 
 13
 
 194 RICH ENOUGH. 
 
 " Well, I heard about that bank-account of 
 Mollie's, and I thought Will's uncle ought not to be 
 outdone;" and Uncle George chuckled with pleasure. 
 " Just tell Will " and here he looked confused 
 " that he need n't say anything before your aunt." 
 
 Marian laughed outright, and put her arms 
 around his neck. " You never want your right 
 hand to know what your left hand is up to, do 
 you?" 
 
 Betty fairly groaned when she saw Will's pres- 
 ent. " I should think the world was topsy-turvy ! 
 What influence can we wise, cautious young people 
 have, when our elders behave in this way ? I 
 should n't expect Mollie to be worldly-wise, but 
 how Will can have suddenly lost all judgment, I 
 don't understand." 
 
 " ' He 's in love, he 's in love, as you all can 
 plainly see ! ' " sang Marian. 
 
 " And even papa approves," pursued Betty. 
 " Why, I thought of course they would be engaged 
 for a year or so, and here we are rushing on to the 
 climax as fast as we can. It's hardest for her 
 mother. I really don't see how she can spare 
 Mollie. She has hardly ever been away, even for 
 a day at a time." 
 
 " Mrs. Penfield is a devoted mother," said Madame 
 Salisbury, who was with them. " She would not 
 consider herself where Mollie's happiness is con- 
 cerned."
 
 RICH ENOUGH. 195 
 
 " She talks as if it were a lovely thing for them 
 all, and as if it were so delightful for that second 
 cousin, two removes, to come on from Back Creek 
 and have a winter near the city. As if she would 
 fill Mollie's place ! " 
 
 " Things always adjust themselves," said Madame 
 Salisbury. " New conditions create new resources." 
 
 " Is n't this pretty ? " asked Marian, holding up 
 a dainty lunch cloth she had just finished embroid- 
 ering. " I am going to take it right over for Mrs. 
 Penfield to see." 
 
 Mrs. Penfield was lying on her couch, looking 
 out of the western window into the glory of the 
 setting sun. She smiled on Marian lovingly as she 
 came in. 
 
 " You bring the gold and rose of the sunset right 
 in to me," she said, stroking the sunny hair and 
 rose-tinted cheeks with a tender touch. 
 
 Something wistful in her tone made Marian ex- 
 claim impulsively, " Oh, how can you bear it so ! " 
 Then seeing the look of pain that came into the 
 invalid's eyes, she hurriedly added, " Forgive me, 
 but it is wonderful to me that you can seem so 
 happy all the time." 
 
 Mrs. Penfield's eyes were dim with tears, but she 
 smiled. " Thank you, my dear ; I 'm not half so 
 brave as I ought to be." 
 
 She stopped, and there was silence in the room, 
 as the twilight deepened. Marian leaned her head
 
 196 RICH ENOUGH. 
 
 against the high-backed chair and thought with a 
 new appreciation of what such a life must be. 
 
 The little mother broke the silence. 
 
 " Don't think I am often so weak as this. To- 
 night I long to be out, and run, run as fast as I 
 did when I was a child, and was called ' Spider ' by 
 the boys. A funny idea for an old lady like myself ! " 
 and she laughed with her usual cheerfulness. 
 
 " I 've been thinking so much lately of what I 
 was at Mollie's age. I was teaching a little country 
 school. It was my first experience, and I felt 
 very proud ; but I was a giddy creature, a child 
 myself. At recess I used to go out and run races, 
 and play with the scholars in a most undignified 
 manner. One day I was caught. The children 
 persuaded me to try a see-saw which they had ar- 
 ranged. It was a splendid long one, and we sailed 
 up in the air in a delightful way. I was up at the 
 highest point when one of the boys on the other 
 end called out, 
 
 " ' There 's the school visitor ! ' 
 
 " I could n't jump, and it seemed as if that thing 
 never would get down ; and there he was, riding up 
 on horseback all the time ! 
 
 " When we reached the ground he was ready to 
 help me off. I thought I should be dismissed on 
 the spot, but fortunately he was a young man with 
 a sense of humor. In fact, it was Dr. Fenfield, 
 and that is how we met."
 
 RICH ENOUGH. 197 
 
 "How romantic!" and Marian leaned forward 
 with her face full of interest. 
 
 " Was it not ? and very funny, too. But I was 
 thinking how much more sedate and womanly 
 Mollie is now than her mother was then. She is 
 really much more fitted for married life than I was. 
 She can always be relied upon." 
 
 " I don't see how you can spare her ! " exclaimed 
 Marian. 
 
 " Ah, my dear, we can do anything for those we 
 love. I want Mollie to have some of the bright- 
 ness of life, and while I can't do very much for 
 her, I can give her up." 
 
 Marian slipped her hand into that of the little 
 mother who spoke so bravely. 
 
 " She has given herself so far to her family, and 
 she would never leave home if I were not here to 
 make her feel that it is possible. She declared 
 that she would not leave me for a ' long, long time,' 
 but I persuaded her that it was really her duty to 
 give Cousin Clara a chance at all her privileges 
 here," Mrs. Penfield laughed a little, " and at 
 my earnest request she consented to make William 
 happy ! I did confess to him that I do not feel the 
 need of any more sons, but he was not sensitive. 
 What children they are ! " 
 
 Mollie came in with the lights, and then Marian 
 remembered the lunch cloth which she had brought 
 over to exhibit. It was received with delight and
 
 198 RICH ENOUGH. 
 
 intense admiration by the bride elect, and they had 
 a merry time planning the lunches she should give 
 on it, " Poverty lunches," her mother suggested 
 she should call them. 
 
 The weeks flew by, and the wedding-day came. 
 It was a home wedding, for the little mother's sake. 
 Her sitting-room was decked with flowers by the 
 young people, and there the two families, with the 
 intimate friends, assembled around the big chair 
 from which she watched for the coming of the bride. 
 Mollie's mother looked so sweet in her new lav- 
 ender gown that the big doctor whispered in her 
 ear that he was sure the bride would not be half so 
 beautiful as she. 
 
 Will, looking very serious and manly, entered 
 with Bob at one door, as the little bridal procession 
 appeared at the other. Lillian, a fairy maid of 
 honor, came in first in her India mull and gold 
 beads. Her eyes were fastened on the basket of 
 white roses she carried, and she saw no one. 
 Mollie in her white veil was a new Mollie. Such 
 a beautiful look of content was in her eyes, such 
 sweetness on her lips, that the onlookers suddenly 
 felt tearful, and the bridegroom registered a vow 
 in his heart which he never afterward forgot. 
 
 As soon as the solemn words were spoken which 
 made them husband and wife, Mollie, forgetting to 
 be dignified, flew across the room for her mother's 
 kiss. When the refreshments were brought in, it
 
 EICH ENOUGH. 199 
 
 took the united efforts of the young Penfields and 
 Kents to keep the bride from waiting on every- 
 body, and they made a great deal of fun of her 
 until Will insisted that she should do just as she 
 pleased, while Marian said, 
 
 " You can't learn to put yourself first all in a 
 minute, can you, Mollie ? " 
 
 Before they were half ready, Theodore announced 
 that the reception guests were beginning to arrive, 
 and young Mr. and Mrs. Kent were hurried down 
 the back stairs and under the big wedding bell to 
 receive congratulations. Betty was very proud of 
 the bell, and the arch in which it hung. She had 
 taken charge of the floral decorations, and with the 
 aid of the beautiful palms and hot-house plants 
 which Richard Copley sent, had veiled the shabbi- 
 ness of the room in a remarkable manner. To their 
 surprise, he had come back for the wedding, which 
 pleased Madame Salisbury very much. 
 
 The stream of people which flowed through the 
 house showed the wide range of Mollie's acquaint- 
 ance. There were friends of all sorts and con- 
 ditions ; factory girls, half bold, half shy ; her 
 Sunday-school boys in such a state of excitement 
 that it was difficult to suppress them ; shabby 
 patients of her father's, to whom she had minis- 
 tered. And then there were the few rich patients, 
 who came out of courtesy to their physician. 
 Little Mrs. Bassett was omni-prevalent, brimming
 
 200 RICH ENOUGH. 
 
 over \vitk sentiment. " Which of you will be the 
 next ? " she said to Betty, wiping tears of excite- 
 ment from her eyes. The Misses Pierce enjoyed 
 themselves wonderfully, for Jack Duncan took them 
 under his special charge, and saw that they met 
 every one, from General Halliday to Bridget 
 Flannigan. Aunt Dwight looked a little askance 
 at some of the guests, but relaxed into gracious- 
 ness when she saw how well " our first families " 
 were represented. 
 
 She asked Madame Salisbury to present Mr. 
 Copley to her, and said so many flattering things 
 to him about his family that Betty thought he 
 must find it embarrassing. It was to Aunt Dwight 
 he mentioned that he was soon going abroad again. 
 Betty heard, and it gave her a curious little feeling 
 of resentment. So he meant to give up the struggle 
 to make life in his own country supportable ! She 
 was rather abstracted while he was expatiating to 
 her, a little later, on the sunny skies of Tangiers. 
 He should go off in a day or two to visit a friend, 
 and then come back to make his preparations for 
 departure. " The old house will be shut up again," 
 he said, with a note of regret in his voice. 
 
 " It really looks more natural to us that way," 
 said Betty, indifferently. 
 
 Then they were called to see the bride and bride- 
 groom drive away. There was a shower of roses, 
 for Mollie had forbidden rice ; the traditional old
 
 RICH ENOUGH. 201 
 
 shoe landed on top of the carriage, and they drove 
 away amid a chorus of good wishes, which ought to 
 have insured them all the happiness that life has 
 to offer. 
 
 In the accounts of the " brilliant and exclusive 
 event," which appeared in the next day's journals, 
 there were traces of Aunt D wight's handiwork 
 which filled Bob and Betty with wild joy. 
 
 " Society will give the happy pair a warm recep- 
 tion in the coming season, which promises to be 
 one of unusual brilliancy," read Betty. " Oh, just 
 think how society will flock to Jones Street ! Bob, 
 I choose to go in and tell Aunt D wight where they 
 are to * reside.' She will simply faint away. When 
 the Van Hooks appeared yesterday she could hardly 
 keep within bounds. 
 
 " ' So kind of them,' she said. ' I asked it as a 
 particular favor.' I looked at her as innocently as I 
 could, and said, ' Why, you need n't have taken the 
 trouble. Mr. Van Hook is a first cousin of Mrs. 
 Penfield's.' You ought to have seen her face ! 
 When she rallied she said she should give Mollie a 
 reception. But Jones Street will be too much for her. 
 I 'm going right in this afternoon to tell her." 
 
 " I '11 go with you," said her twin. " I would n't 
 miss the fun for anything." 
 
 Accordingly, the misguided pair presented them- 
 selves at the stately brown stone front at about 
 five o'clock that afternoon. Aunt Dwight sent
 
 202 RICH ENOUGH. 
 
 down word that she should be disengaged in a 
 moment, and kept them waiting about three quar- 
 ters of an hour before she sailed in. Her hair was 
 arranged with such precision that it gave the effect 
 of a false front. Before she greeted her young 
 relations she put up her lorgnette, as if she were 
 afraid she might make a mistake. 
 
 " How do you do, Elizabeth ? Pray, don't sit in 
 that chair ; it makes you very round-shouldered." 
 
 " Well Robert, you have retired to private life, I 
 see. You quite kept yourself in the foreground 
 yesterday." 
 
 Thus having made them both feel comfortable, 
 she sat down and looked from one to the other, as 
 if to inquire what they were there for. As they 
 were both guiltily conscious of their mission, each 
 one waited for the other to speak. 
 
 " I think you would have done better to rest 
 to-day, Elizabeth, rather than come in town," Aunt 
 Dwight pursued. " You really look quite haggard. 
 You must remember that you are getting old 
 enough to have to save yourself a little. People 
 will be saying how you have gone off in your 
 looks," this with a would-be playful air. 
 
 " I have n't time to think about my looks, Aunt 
 Cornelia," said Betty, her spirits rising for the 
 fray. " We have so much to do now in getting 
 Will and Mollie's new house ready. We 've been 
 way down in Jones Street this afternoon."
 
 KICH ENOUGH. 203 
 
 " Jones Street ? Jones Street ? What should 
 take you way down there ? You surely have no 
 friends there ? " 
 
 " Why, did n't you know ? That 's where Will 
 has taken an apartment." 
 
 " What ! Jones Street ? Oh, impossible ! " and 
 Aunt Dwight actually turned pale. " Will could n't 
 have known what he was doing. They must change 
 at once, before anybody knows. My nephew living 
 in Jones Street ! I could not possibly countenance 
 such a step." Aunt Dwight's voice was anguished. 
 
 Bob could not help feeling sorry for her, but he 
 said valiantly : 
 
 " I don't see anything wrong with Jones Street. 
 Of course it is not fashionable, but it 's a neat little 
 street, and they get their apartment for a third 
 what they would have to pay on this side of the 
 town. You certainly believe in people's living 
 within their income, don't you ? " 
 
 " You could not be expected, Robert, to under- 
 stand the importance of this matter ; nor the Pen- 
 fields, who, though very worthy people, no doubt, 
 evidently know nothing of society. But that Wil- 
 liam should so outrage his family is incomprehen- 
 sible. It is social suicide." 
 
 Aunt Dwight's distress was so real that Bob and 
 Betty did not enjoy themselves half so much as 
 they had expected, and took their departure as 
 soon as they could.
 
 204 RICH ENOUGH. 
 
 " I don't know but that the last straw has now 
 been placed," said Bob, as they walked away. " I 
 really saw tears in her eyes." 
 
 " Perhaps they have made a mistake," Betty 
 answered seriously. 
 
 " Why, Elizabeth Kent, what a right-about face 
 for you ! " 
 
 " For her anger I don't care, 
 In her tears I can but share,' " 
 
 quoth Betty.
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 we can settle down to peace and quiet 
 again," said Marian, after the excitement 
 over the home-coming of Will and Mollie had 
 subsided. 
 
 " Peace and quiet ! " echoed Betty ; " I call it 
 stupidity and vacuity. It 's all very well for you, 
 with your mission work to live for ; but I 've no 
 vocation in that direction, and it 's no use pretend- 
 ing that I have. I shall be dead before the winter 
 is over." 
 
 " Why, Betty, you know you '11 have ever so many 
 good times." 
 
 " I don't care if I shall ; I have a perfect right 
 to think I 'm going to be miserable if I want to ! " 
 said Betty, capriciously ; and with a little laugh she 
 flew out of the room, while Marian wondered what 
 had come over her. 
 
 She was just going to seek her younger sister 
 when Betty came back sedately, with a pile of dish- 
 towels in her hands. 
 
 "I'm going to hem these for Ellen," she said, 
 " and then I sha'n't feel as if I were living in vain." 
 
 She worked steadily for some time, and then 
 asked suddenly :
 
 206 RICH ENOUGH. 
 
 " Marian, did you know that Mr. Copley bad 
 come back, and that he is ill all alone over in that 
 house ? Is n't it ridiculous that we can't go near 
 him and cheer him up as if it were Bob or Will ? I 
 think conventionality is stupid ! " and Betty fairly 
 ran her needle into her finger in her indignation. 
 
 " Oh, I 'm so sorry he 's ill," said Marian, look- 
 ing up in concern. " We '11 get papa to go over 
 to-night and see him. I wish we might do some- 
 thing. I suppose he '11 be beautifully taken care 
 of, and Madame Salisbury will look after him." 
 
 " She wishes he had gone right to her house." 
 
 Betty said nothing more, and they drifted into 
 talk about other things. 
 
 Mr. Kent did call on their neighbor that evening, 
 and found him suffering from a severe attack of 
 bronchitis. 
 
 " It is forlorn for him," he said, when he came 
 back and settled himself in his own corner by the 
 open fire. He looked around the bright room, with 
 Marian by the evening lamp and Betty in her light 
 gown turning over some music at the piano, and 
 thought of the big empty house where the only sound 
 below stairs was the solemn tic-tac of the old clock. 
 
 " I declare, I shall look in often, and you must 
 send the boys in whenever they come out. Dr. 
 Penfield says he has considerable fever, but he 
 has a good nurse, and he '11 probably pull through 
 all right."
 
 RICH ENOUGH. 207 
 
 Marian began to plan what she could send over 
 in the way of jellies and other delicacies. Betty 
 said nothing. In the days that followed, her 
 spirits were so variable that Marian did not know 
 what to do with her. 
 
 " Betty is tender-hearted," she thought to her- 
 self ; " yet the minute he is well, she will begin to 
 torment him." 
 
 But that day was far off. Mr. Kent came in one 
 evening after one of his visits, and said : 
 
 " I 've seen the doctor to-night, and he says that 
 Mr. Copley is not getting on so well as he ought. He 
 has no fever now, but he does n't gain any strength. 
 Dr. Penfield suggests that you girls go over there, 
 sometime, with Madame Salisbury. He thinks it 
 might give him a little start to see some new 
 faces." 
 
 Betty flushed. " I thought all the time that he 
 needed cheering up," she said. 
 
 The next afternoon Madame Salisbury took them 
 over just at dusk. The hall and lower rooms were 
 dimly lighted, and Betty shivered as she looked 
 around her. Upstairs it was brighter. They were 
 ushered into a library, where they found the invalid 
 in a big reclining chair, and as they entered the 
 room his wistful eyes met Betty's with an expres- 
 sion that brought the hot color into her cheeks. 
 
 She was an unusually quiet Betty all the time 
 they were there, but just before they left she said
 
 208 RICH ENOUGH. 
 
 some characteristic things which brought a smile 
 to Richard's grave face. 
 
 "I don't think you were very polite," Marian 
 said, when they were on their way home. " Mr. 
 Copley tried several times to draw you into the 
 conversation, and you barely responded." 
 
 " Oh, well," Betty answered listlessly, " it 
 wouldn't tire him so much to talk with one as 
 with two, and you and he always get on so well 
 together." 
 
 When Madame Salisbury went back to the library 
 after letting the girls out, she saw, as she opened 
 the door, Richard leaning on the table beside him, 
 with his head bowed on his arms. 
 
 " Oh, my dear boy, we have tired you out ; " but 
 at sight of the intense misery in the face he 
 lifted, Madame Salisbury knew that there was some- 
 thing more than fatigue. She went to him, and 
 put her hand on his shoulder. 
 
 " Richard, I cannot help seeing that some unhap- 
 piness is preventing you from getting well. Can 
 you not tell me about it ? Remember what an old 
 friend I am." 
 
 Richard shook his head and said faintly, 
 
 " Thank you, but no one can help me. Let me get 
 strong enough to go away ; that is all I ask !" 
 
 " Don't say that." The little lady's voice trem- 
 bled. " I had hoped that in the midst of these 
 young people you were growing happier."
 
 RICH ENOUGH. 209 
 
 " There was no use in trying it. I might have 
 known that in the end it would add just so much 
 more bitterness to my lot. I was made to be 
 lonely. Oh, Madame Salisbury, I ought never to 
 have come back here ! " 
 
 " I think I understand you, Richard, but I see no 
 reason why you should go away." 
 
 " Because if I stay I should be cowardly enough 
 to tell her that I love her ! " he said bitterly. 
 
 " Cowardly ! " Madame Salisbury repeated. " I 
 should not call it that." 
 
 " What else could you call it ? How could it 
 be anything else but dishonorable in me to try 
 to win her love ? " Richard's tone was almost 
 defiant. 
 
 " I don't agree with you at all," Madame Salis- 
 bury said decidedly. " That is so like a man ! " 
 and she looked really indignant. " Try in every 
 way to gain the interest and sympathy of a girl 
 and then run off whenever you choose." 
 
 " Why, Madame Salisbury ! " Richard was 
 aghast. " I have not tried to win her sympathy." 
 
 " You may not have done it deliberately, but 
 you have unconsciously, and I say you have no 
 right to run away now. The manly thing for you 
 to do, in my opinion, is to tell her the truth." 
 
 " But I have no reason for supposing that it 
 would make any difference to her, and even if it 
 did a little, she would get over it in a short time. 
 
 14
 
 210 RICH ENOUGH. 
 
 I shall soon be a forgotten episode." There was 
 utter sadness in his voice. 
 
 " Very likely she does not care for you in that 
 way, but that does not alter your position." 
 
 " I am amazed to hear you say that ; " there was 
 a spot of feverish color in each cheek. " How 
 could I ask any woman to share my spoiled life ? " 
 
 " You need n't ! " There was almost a smile on 
 Madame Salisbury's lips. " Tell her you can't ask 
 her." 
 
 " That would be an appeal to her pity, and I 
 have n't fallen so low as that yet." 
 
 Richard threw back his head proudly, and then 
 grew so pale that Madame Salisbury became 
 alarmed, and begged him not to talk any more. 
 
 " But I must" he said. " Now that we have be- 
 gun, I want to talk this thing out. Can you hon- 
 estly say, Madame Salisbury, that you think a man 
 whose life is under a cloud like mine, has any right 
 to ask the woman he loves to share it ? Is n't it 
 your kind affection for me, for which I bless you with 
 all my heart, that blinds you to the real question ? " 
 
 " Richard," said Madame Salisbury, solemnly, " if 
 there had been any question in my mind as to that, 
 I should have sent you away long ago. You are 
 clear of any wrong in the sight of God and before 
 your own conscience ; your sensitiveness is all that 
 makes you consider your position as different from 
 that of other men."
 
 RICH ENOUGH. 211 
 
 Richard was so moved that he could not speak, 
 and clasped the hand she held out to him in 
 silence. After a moment he said : 
 
 " A man cannot suffer as 1 have done without 
 its leaving ineffaceable traces. I am sombre ; I 
 do not look at life as a man of my age should. 
 Even if she did care for me as I do for her, the 
 pain she would feel if I went away without speak- 
 ing might be far less than the unhappiness she 
 might find in a life with me." 
 
 " A woman's heart is a mysterious thing, Rich- 
 ard," said Madame Salisbury. " My advice is, let 
 her decide for herself, -r- that is, of course, with the 
 consent of her father. I am old-fashioned enough 
 to believe in asking permission of the parents first." 
 Madame Salisbury looked very stately as she said 
 this. 
 
 When she saw the way in which the color rushed 
 into Richard's face she was troubled. " We shall 
 bring back your fever," she said, " if we talk any 
 more. Now I insist on your going directly to bed, 
 and not thinking any more about this subject." 
 
 Which was more easily said than done. The ice 
 once broken, Richard could not forbear unburdening 
 his heart to his sympathetic friend, and the fluctua- 
 tions of his feelings wore on her almost as much as 
 they did on him. He raised argument after argu- 
 ment to prove that he must not speak, just for the 
 solace of having her convince him that he might.
 
 212 KICK ENOUGH. 
 
 \ 
 
 " The first thing for you to do is to get well," 
 she said again and again. But that he could not 
 seem to do, and the good doctor began to shake his 
 head over him. 
 
 " There is great mental unrest," he said to 
 Madame Salisbury one morning. " Can't that be 
 allayed in some way ? " 
 
 " Yes, in a way that will either kill or cure him," 
 she answered, a response which seemed very 
 enigmatic to his physician. 
 
 Madame Salisbury was very silent the rest of the 
 morning. In the afternoon, when Richard was 
 lying on the library couch, consumed with a fever- 
 ish restlessness, she told him that this state of 
 uncertainty would certainly wear him out, and that 
 she had made up her mind to send for Mr. Kent 
 that evening and put the matter before him. 
 
 Richard's power of resistance had all left him, 
 and he even smiled gratefully on the one who thus 
 took the responsibility away from him. 
 
 Mr. Kent's interview with Madame Salisbury 
 left him a much astonished man. Some one want- 
 ing to take his little girl away from him prepos- 
 terous ! Why, she was only a child. 
 
 As he walked home he thought very kindly of 
 Richard Copley. Poor fellow! he was sorry for 
 him, very sorry, but of course Betty was entirely 
 too young yet to think of anything of the kind. 
 He should not say anything to her about it if
 
 RICH ENOUGH. 213 
 
 he had not promised Madame Salisbury that he 
 would. 
 
 When he called Betty into the study his brow 
 was perturbed, and he hardly looked at her as she 
 sat down beside him. 
 
 " I have something very extraordinary to tell 
 you, Betty, but I don't want you to worry over it 
 in the least. I think, I hope, " Mr. Kent fidg- 
 etted in his chair, and taking her hand in his said 
 abruptly, " Mr. Copley would like to marry you ! 
 What do you say ? " as a little sound came from 
 Betty. 
 
 But as she did not answer, her father continued : 
 
 " I told Madame Salisbury that I was sure you 
 had given him no encouragement, that in fact I 
 did not think you even liked him particularly ; you 
 really have seen very little of him. He is ill and 
 lonely, poor fellow ; but, as I say, you must not be 
 troubled by it." 
 
 " But I 'm not ! " Betty burst out. " Of course 
 I love him, and I'll marry him to-morrow, if he 
 wants me to ! " 
 
 " Elizabeth, what are you saying ? " and Mr. Kent 
 collapsed in his chair as if a thunderbolt had 
 struck him. 
 
 " I 'm just speaking the truth." Betty's eyes 
 were brilliant flames. " I am so glad he has said 
 it. He needs some one to take care of him." 
 
 " But but my dear child, you must not let
 
 214 RICH ENOUGH. 
 
 your sympathy run away with you. Matrimony 
 is a serious thing. You must reflect on it. You 
 can't decide a matter like this on impulse." 
 
 " Why, papa, don't you think I know ? If I 
 should reflect a thousand years I could n't be any 
 surer. I should like to go over and see him now, 
 if you '11 take me." 
 
 Mr. Kent grasped the arms of his chair firmly. 
 " Why, Betty, you don't realize what it would be. 
 He is much older than you, and a reserved, un- 
 happy man. I wish you would talk with some one 
 else about this, some woman. Go to Madame 
 Salisbury. You must n't decide such a matter in 
 a minute." 
 
 " Papa," and Betty knelt by her father's side 
 and grasped his hands, " did you have any doubts 
 when the time came ? I know that I can never 
 care for any one else in that way. Nothing that 
 any one could say would change me. Won't you 
 let me go and tell him ? " 
 
 " It is too late," Mr. Kent said feebly. 
 
 "Oh, no, it isn't. We'll just ask at the door, 
 anyway. Do come ! " 
 
 The father's heart could not resist the coaxing 
 tones, and almost before he knew it he was stand- 
 ing on his neighbor's doorstep, Betty wrapped up 
 in her blue cape, beside him. 
 
 " Is Mr. Copley still in the library ? " asked Mr. 
 Kent, as if he were sure the answer would be " no ! "
 
 RICH ENOUGH. 215 
 
 " Yes, sir ; walk right in," and Roger threw open 
 the door and looked at Betty as if he knew all 
 about it. 
 
 When they reached the library door Betty's 
 courage suddenly gave out. "You go in and tell 
 him," she whispered, slipping behind her father as, 
 in answer to his knock, a voice said, " Come in." 
 
 Mr. Kent obediently walked in, but Richard 
 Copley's eyes looked eagerly past him, and before 
 he had a chance to say anything, Betty, drawn by 
 an irresistible impulse, had crossed the room and 
 was kneeling by the couch with her hands in 
 Richard's. 
 
 Mr. Kent did the only thing that was left for 
 him to do. He retreated into the hall as rapidly 
 as possible, and there dropped into a chair with the 
 exclamation, " Good Lord!" which was not meant 
 in an irreverent manner. 
 
 He had plenty of time to compose his feelings 
 and think over all the wise and judicious things he 
 had meant to say to his daughter before the door 
 opened, and a contrite voice said, 
 
 " Poor papa, how good and patient you have 
 been ! Come in and say good-night to Richard." 
 
 Such a captivating Betty as she was, smiling 
 radiantly, yet with a quiver on her lips and a look 
 in her eyes as if April showers were not far away. 
 
 The look of peace and content in Richard's face 
 was beautiful to see, and the grip which Mr. Kent's
 
 216 RICH ENOUGH. 
 
 hand received showed that his strength was already 
 beginning to return. 
 
 During the next few days Betty was the only 
 calm member of the family. 
 
 " Of all deceitful girls, you are the deceitful - 
 est ! " Bob said. " You pretended to be devoted 
 to me, and now you coolly desert me for another 
 man without a word of warning ! " 
 
 Marian shed many tears in secret. Could their 
 bright little Betty help losing all her sparkle and 
 gayety in such companionship ? The family were 
 full of doubts, but Betty had never a misgiving. 
 
 Before they were in the least accustomed to the 
 new order of things, Betty announced that she was 
 going to marry Richard in ten days from that time. 
 
 " Marian, he needs me," she said. " I would n't, 
 if I could, have a regular fashionable wedding. 
 I shall be with you just as much, and then I can 
 take care of him. You don't know how lovely it is 
 to me to feel that some one really depends on me ! 
 
 " I will have a white gown to be married in, but 
 that is all I care about. How could I give my time 
 to clothes when I have so much more important 
 things to think about ? " 
 
 None of them felt as if they knew Betty in these 
 days. All her frivolity had disappeared. She was 
 still and radiant, and seemed to be living" in a world 
 apart. She had chosen Sunday for her wedding 
 day.
 
 RICH ENOUGH. 217 
 
 " I want it on the most sacred day of the week," 
 she told Marian. 
 
 " Just think what fun we had before Mollie's 
 wedding," Bob said to Marian, " but I would n't 
 any more dare to joke Betty ! And she 's my own 
 twin, and I thought I understood her ! " 
 
 When Aunt Cornelia heard of Betty's engagement 
 her spirits, which had been so shattered by the 
 Jones Street apartment, revived wonderfully. She 
 appeared on the scene immediately, ready to man- 
 age everything. 
 
 " My dear Elizabeth, who would have believed 
 that you would do so well ! If your wedding is 
 managed in just the right way, you can take any 
 position you like in society. Of course no one be- 
 lieves that old story, but everything must be done 
 to obliterate it entirely. A brilliant wedding, with 
 all the old family friends on both sides present, will 
 place you at once. 
 
 " You must have at least two bishops to perform 
 the ceremony, and a full choral service. I can 
 answer for the governor's being here with his staff, 
 and I believe we can even get the President, he 
 was such a friend of Mr. Copley's father. We will 
 plan everything with the greatest care." 
 
 " But, Aunt Cornelia," said Betty, " we are to be 
 married 011 Sunday." 
 
 " What ! " Aunt Cornelia rose to her feet. 
 
 " Yes, next Sunday. Richard needs me. And,
 
 218 RICH ENOUGH. 
 
 Aunt Cornelia, I don't care anything about daz- 
 zling people or having the President at my wed- 
 ding, and Mr. Pierce will marry us just as well as 
 forty bishops. It makes no difference to me what 
 people remember or think." 
 
 " I might have known you would be perfectly 
 unreasonable and absurd," Aunt Cornelia said 
 irately. Then remembering that after all Betty 
 would soon have the power of wealth in her hands, 
 she sank down again on her chair. 
 
 " Of course his illness would account for a hasty 
 wedding, and I can explain everywhere ; but I hope 
 you realize that it is your positive duty to dissipate 
 Mr. Copley's ridiculous notion about the property. 
 It is an absolute sin to have that money lying idle 
 all this time. Think of the good you might do 
 with it, if nothing else ! " 
 
 Betty was so filled with wrath that she could not 
 be amused at the way in which her aunt's sentence 
 ended. 
 
 " Aunt Cornelia, I have not the slightest idea of 
 trying to influence Mr. Copley in regard to his 
 property. Besides, I sympathize entirely with him 
 in his feelings about it, and I hope you will never 
 speak to me of it again." 
 
 " I do not see " Aunt Cornelia addressed the 
 mantelpiece " how any of my flesh and blood 
 could have such unnatural, impractical children. 
 I would have helped you in every way, Betty, to
 
 EICH ENOUGH. 219 
 
 live down what of course we cannot shut our eyes 
 to, but now I refuse all further responsibility ! " 
 and she rose majestically. 
 
 " Thank you very much for that ! " Betty could 
 not resist saying. Then with quick repentance, 
 
 " You will come on Sunday, won't you, with 
 Uncle George ? I want all my family around me." 
 
 But Aunt Cornelia walked away without a word.
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 IT was Easter Sunday. April sunshine flooded 
 the earth, and the air was full of the sweet- 
 ness and promise of spring. At the close of the 
 morning service, the rector of St. John's, in his 
 white robes, crossed the square, and entered the 
 Copley house. Not a few people lingered to see 
 the bride pass from her old home to the new. 
 
 In her pure white gown, with the sunlight fall- 
 ing on her auburn head, and a rapt expression on 
 her face, Betty moved along, seeing no one, her 
 finger-tips just resting on her father's arm ; Marian 
 and Bob, Will and his Mollie, followed ; and Mrs. 
 Bassett, who stood in the Kent doorway, thought 
 it the most beautiful little procession she had ever 
 seen in her life. 
 
 They entered the hall, which during the night 
 had blossomed into a veritable garden, full of 
 fragrance and bloom. The staircase, up which 
 they passed, was a pathway of tulips and daffodils, 
 and the library, where Richard waited to receive 
 his bride, was a perfect bower of roses. 
 
 As Betty crossed the threshold, Richard rose to 
 meet her, his face growing luminous as their eyes
 
 RICH ENOUGH. 221 
 
 met. The beautiful marriage service was soon 
 ended, and he was resting in his chair with his 
 wife beside him. 
 
 Then the guests, led by Madame Salisbury, went 
 downstairs for the wedding breakfast. Aunt Cor- 
 nelia lingered by the way, noticing with great satis- 
 faction that no expense had been spared in the 
 decorations. The feast could not be a very merry 
 one with the bride and bridegroom absent, but 
 they all did their best ; and Dr. Penfield and Uncle 
 George vied with each other in elaborate toasts to 
 Mr. and Mrs. Copley, and everybody present. - 
 
 Then Betty came down looking so happy that 
 they could not be anything but happy with her; 
 and when she said triumphantly, " Richard is 
 asleep, so I have n't killed him yet, you see ! " it 
 sounded so natural that they all felt suddenly joy- 
 ous, and for the first time in many years the old 
 dining-room was filled with the sound of cheerful 
 voices. 
 
 " A new era has begun," Madame Salisbury said 
 to Mr. Kent, as they were walking home. " You 
 will never regret this day, I am sure. Betty will 
 do wonders for Richard, and some day you will be 
 very proud of your son-in-law, I prophesy." 
 
 It is remarkable how soon an unusual situation 
 becomes a matter of course one. In a few days it 
 seemed perfectly natural for Betty to belong next 
 door. The very first time she came to see her
 
 222 KICK ENOUGH. 
 
 family, she said, " I must go home," when she rose 
 to leave them. They all groaned. 
 
 " Oh, you fickle young woman ! " said Bob. 
 
 "Only adaptable," ' she laughed. " Why, I feel 
 as if I had always belonged in that house, and had 
 been giving Richard beef-tea every two hours for 
 years." 
 
 " It must seem queer to him," Bob ruminated, 
 " to have such a scatter-brain pretending to take 
 care of him." 
 
 " He seems to like it," Betty returned blithely. 
 Then she drew her cape about her and ran across 
 the garden, and let herself into her new kingdom. 
 
 She did not feel entirely at home downstairs. 
 Those big empty rooms gave her a little shiver 
 always, and she hurried through the hall, and up 
 the stairs to the library, where warmth and light 
 and a welcome awaited her. She was all out of 
 breath as she listened outside the door to see if 
 her patient were awake. 
 
 " Come in," a voice said impatiently, and Betty 
 peeped in to see Richard sitting up in an easy- 
 chair waiting for her. 
 
 " Why, you dearest, darling boy ! " she cried, 
 rushing over to him, and putting her arms around 
 his neck. " I thought of course you 'd be asleep, 
 and here you are, sitting up like anybody ! " 
 
 " You don't realize how long you 've been away. 
 1 've been watching for you an hour ; " and Richard
 
 RICH ENOUGH. 223 
 
 drew her down beside him, and kissed her with the 
 look that always made the tears come to her. eyes. 
 
 " I 'm glad you are n't tired of me yet," she said 
 gayly. " Bob thinks I 'm too scatter-brained to 
 take proper care of you, but he does n't know how 
 firm I can be. I want you to have some broth 
 now, and lie down. I 'm sure you are tired, and 
 I'll read to you." 
 
 " No, talk to me, instead. I 've had the blues 
 ever since you went away. Oh, Betty, I 've taken 
 you out of your bright, happy life, and I can't do 
 anything for you. It was wrong, it was selfish 
 of me." 
 
 " Don't, don't talk that way ! " and Betty laid her 
 soft fingers over his lips. " Why, I 'd rather be 
 here than anywhere else in the whole world, and I 
 never was so happy before in my life. If you were 
 only well, I should n't have another thing to wish 
 for ; " and she leaned her cheek caressingly against 
 his. 
 
 Richard clasped her to his heart, and they were 
 silent for a little. Then the instincts of the nurse 
 were aroused. 
 
 " Now you must be fed," she said ; and slipping 
 away from him she rang the bell. When the tray 
 appeared she coaxed him to take the broth, and 
 then when he was settled on his couch, sat beside 
 him in the firelight, and chattered away so success- 
 fully that the blues fled entirely for the time being,
 
 224 HIGH ENOUGH. 
 
 and she was rewarded more than once by a hearty 
 laugh from her husband's lips. 
 
 Betty's mission had come to her, and if love had 
 not lightened it, it would have been a difficult one. 
 Richard's very love for her seemed at times to in- 
 tensify his depression. 
 
 " What could n't I do for you, if it were not for 
 this cloud ! " he exclaimed one day. " You were 
 made for society, and here you are shut up with an 
 outcast ; and I can't even give you all that money 
 would bring. Betty, sometimes I'm tempted to 
 break my vow and use that money lying idle, 
 for you, just for you ! I would n't spend any for 
 myself." 
 
 " Oh, wo, Richard ! " Betty said in horror. " Why, 
 you and I are one now ; it would be the same thing. 
 And I 've always admired you for your scruples. 
 I could n't let you take it. Don't think of it even 
 for a minute! What we have seems riches to me, 
 and there is one thing I want to do very much, 
 which I am sure we could afford." 
 
 " What is it?" Richard asked eagerly. 
 
 Betty saw that she had diverted his mind, and 
 proceeded with animation. 
 
 " I want to have the lower floor done over. 
 You 've said you would n't care if everything down 
 there was burned up, or I wouldn't speak of it. 
 But I should just love to fix it according to my 
 ideas, and I don't believe it would cost much."
 
 RICH ENOUGH. 225 
 
 " Do anything you want to," Richard said. " I'm 
 glad if you can take enough interest in the old 
 place to do anything with it." 
 
 " Oh, thank you, thank you ! " and Betty gave him 
 a loving pat. " I '11 get it all done while you are up- 
 stairs, and give you a surprise. What fun it will 
 be ! And may I " she hesitated " would you 
 mind if I change yt)ur father's study ? " 
 
 " Change whatever you like," he said hastily. 
 
 From that day on the air was full of mystery. 
 Betty superintended every inch of the clearing out 
 that had to be done. Only to Marian did she con- 
 fide the purpose that inspired her. 
 
 " If I can only, only find the letter that Richard 
 thinks his father wrote ! Marian, it seems to me 
 as if I must! I 'in going to have the furniture all 
 taken apart to look for secret drawers ; I 'm going 
 to have anything that 's upholstered taken to pieces 
 (so to re-cover it, of course). I shall have the 
 lining ripped out of all the curtains ; I am going to 
 have the baseboards taken off, and the mantel 
 pulled out, so if there were any cracks, you know 
 Can you think of anything else I might do ? " 
 
 " Not unless you pull the house down." Marian 
 could not help laughing, even though Betty was so 
 serious. 
 
 " I verily believe," Betty went on, " I am capable 
 of forging a letter, if I only knew how Mr. Copley 
 wrote. Marian, it seems sometimes as if Richard's 
 
 15
 
 228 RICH ENOUGH. 
 
 life depended on that possible bit of paper. It has 
 really become a mania with him." 
 
 Marian's arms went around the little sister, 
 whose courage and hopefulness seemed to have 
 deserted her. 
 
 " You dear thing," she whispered ; " you are a 
 perfect wonder to me, you keep so bright all the 
 time." 
 
 " I must," Betty said wearily. " And most of 
 the time I can, but why can't I find this one 
 thing ? " 
 
 " Of course you have looked through all the 
 books?" 
 
 " Oh, of course. That 's where they always find 
 things in stories, and I 've looked at every leaf in 
 every book in the house, I believe. Richard thinks 
 I'm growing too particular a housekeeper to be 
 agreeable. I thought he would get well if he had 
 me, even if he did n't find that letter, but I was too 
 vain. I believe he wants it more than ever." 
 
 " But it 's all for your sake now. Why, Betty, 
 lie is a different man from what he was when we 
 first met him ! His expression is entirely changed. 
 Don't you remember ? " 
 
 Richard grew a little jealous of Betty's absorp- 
 tion in the renovating. The long shopping expe- 
 ditions, the consultations with carpenters, paper- 
 hangers, and painters, kept her away from him 
 many hours. He was daily growing stronger, and
 
 RICH ENOUGH. 227 
 
 before she was ready for him, began to threaten 
 to come and find her if she insisted on spending 
 her life downstairs. 
 
 " I little knew what I was doing when I told you to 
 fix the house over. You might just as well be living 
 at your father's for all I see of you. It 's absolute 
 neglect, and we 've hardly been married a month." 
 
 " But it '11 be such a lovely surprise when it 's 
 done, you '11 forgive everything." 
 
 " I don't care about surprises ; I 'm coming down 
 to-morrow to see the ravages for myself." 
 
 " Oh, you must n't ; that would spoil everything ! 
 And I 've worked so hard just for the pleasure of 
 seeing how you look when it bursts upon you in 
 one grand completeness ! " 
 
 " Then I must be patient, I suppose." 
 
 " It will only be a day or two longer. Let me 
 see, this is Thursday, and on Sunday that is our 
 anniversary day, you know I '11 invite you down 
 to dine with me." 
 
 " Thank you very much. Are there to be any 
 other guests ? " 
 
 "No, indeed, at our first dinner! How little 
 real romance a man has, after all ! " 
 
 On Saturday everything was finished. Betty 
 went around all by herself for a final survey late 
 in the afternoon, and could not see anything to 
 change. The dismal north dining-room was bright 
 and cheerful now, with tapestry paper on the walls,
 
 228 RICH ENOUGH. 
 
 and a new wide eastern window which let in the 
 morning sun. 
 
 The house was one with a broad hall running 
 through the middle arid two big rooms on either 
 side. The drawing-rooms on the right were done 
 up in cool greens. Betty had had a great deal to 
 work with ; the fine old furniture, rugs, and pic- 
 tures gathered from all quarters of the globe were 
 things of beauty. 
 
 " To think that just getting rid of those awful 
 carpets and having the walls right can so change the 
 rooms ! " she thought to herself. Silken draperies 
 at the windows took the place of the heavy velvet 
 lambrequins, which had shut out so much light. 
 
 As she crossed the hall she paused a moment 
 and looked up affectionately at the portrait of 
 Richard's mother, painted when she was a bride. 
 Her hair was smoothed closely over her ears, and 
 her hands folded sedately in her lap. There was 
 a touch of sadness in her face, with its aquiline 
 features, in spite of the girlishncss of contour. 
 u How like her Richard is ! " Betty thought anew. 
 
 On the opposite wall hung the stern face of her 
 husband. " There is n't an atom of mercy in those 
 eyes," she said to herself as she hurried by. They 
 followed her piercingly as she opened the door of 
 his old study, and glancing back she fancied she 
 caught a gleam of anger, which made her close the 
 door hastily behind her. She had expended the
 
 RICH ENOUGH. 229 
 
 most thought on this room, which Richard never 
 entered, and from which a chill had seemed to 
 steal through the whole house. She had uncom- 
 promisingly banished to the attic every article of 
 furniture in the room, first, of course, ransacking 
 them thoroughly. She had the fireplace re-opened, 
 the walls hung with yellow, and the dark woodwork 
 made white. A fire was laid invitingly ready to 
 light ; there were plants in the window ; her favorite 
 hooks were in low bookshelves on either side of the 
 room, and her own little tea-table was there. 
 
 Betty ended her tour of inspection here, and 
 though it was all as she wished, she gave a deep 
 sigh as she sank down into the big chair intended 
 for Richard's special use. " He shall learn to 
 love this room," she resolved, " as much as he 
 hates it now. There is n't a thing here that can 
 have a painful association for him," and she 
 looked around carefully, "unless but I don't 
 believe he'll mind that," and she looked at the 
 family Bible. She could not feel it respectful to 
 banish that from its long-held place to the attic, 
 and so there it lay on a little stand between the 
 two long French windows. 
 
 Betty rested her elbows on her knees and put 
 her face between the palms of her hands, her 
 favorite attitude when thinking. 
 
 " Why, why could n't I have had my wish ? Just 
 three or four words written by that bad old man would
 
 230 RICH ENOUGH. 
 
 change our whole world. And I can't have them . 
 Everything 1 can do will be useless. Richard will 
 never be happy, and I thought I could do so much ! " 
 
 A sob rose in poor Betty's throat, and her thoughts 
 turned again and again to that " bad old man," as 
 she insisted on calling him to herself. She had 
 a mental picture of him which was far from flatter- 
 ing. " I should have loved Richard's mother, I 
 know," she pondered, " but it 's fortunate his father 
 and I never met, for I know I could n't have helped 
 telling him my opinion of him. If sitting here is 
 going to make me think of him, I shall get to feel- 
 ing as Richard does about the room." 
 
 She gave herself an impatient little shake and 
 looked around, as if she almost expected to see the 
 ghost of the former occupant. 
 
 " I don't even know his first name," she said 
 aloud, to show herself how courageous she felt. 
 " I do hope Richard was n't named for him ! " and 
 rising impulsively she went over to the family 
 Bible, and turned to the page where in neat and 
 precise script the Copley record was entered. She 
 ran her finger down the page. Richard and Paul 
 had both been family names through many genera- 
 tions. " Here it is," she said, as she reached the 
 bottom of the page 
 
 " ' John Copley married Eunice Van Santford,' 
 that 's her name, I know well. He was nothing 
 but plain John, I 'm glad to see.
 
 KICK ENOUGH. 231 
 
 " ' Their children : 
 MARY, died in infancy. 
 
 PAUL, born 18, died 18.' " 
 
 The color flew into Betty's cheeks. She was so 
 angry she could hardly see. That black, blotted 
 name seemed an insult that even death could not 
 excuse. She stood with her eyes riveted on the 
 spot. 
 
 " How could he, how could he ! " 
 
 Tears blinded her eyes. She fully understood 
 some of Richard's feelings now. She was about 
 closing the book with a feeling of passionate 
 resentment, when a tiny word at the very edge 
 of the page caught her eye, " (over)." She turned 
 to the next page. In the same precise hand was 
 written : 
 
 " I believe Richard guiltless. 
 Ps. xvi. 7, 9. 
 
 JOHN COPLEY, July 9, 18 ." 
 
 Betty stared at it blankly, her mind refusing to 
 take it in. It was some optical illusion. Then 
 she put out her hand and rubbed her finger over 
 the writing ; it did not come off ! " July 9th, 18 , 
 when was that ? Why, it was n't so very long 
 ago. Could it be ? Yes, it was, the very month 
 in which Mr. Copley died!" 
 
 Then Betty fell down on her knees, with her
 
 232 RICH ENOUGH. 
 
 arms around the old Bible, and wept such tears 
 as she had never wept before in her life ; grati- 
 tude, awe, love, in one burst of feeling. " Thank 
 God ! thank God ! " she whispered over and over 
 again. 
 
 When Richard saw his wife again there was 
 such a change in her face that he did not know 
 what to make of her. 
 
 "You looked so tired and disappointed when 
 you went downstairs," he said, " I was afraid 
 everything was all wrong." 
 
 " No, everything is all right, and I am so happy 
 and rested. It seems as if I couldn't wait until 
 to-morrow for you to see it." 
 
 " We will go down now then," and Richard 
 started for the door. 
 
 " Talk about the curiosity of a woman ! " ex- 
 claimed Betty, laying a detaining hand on his 
 arm. " Why, a man is a thousand times worse ! 
 You can't go until to-morrow, for you aren't 
 invited."
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 SUNDAY was bright and clear, much to the 
 little wife's joy. At twelve o'clock she led 
 the way down the broad staircase, followed by 
 Richard leaning on Roger's strong shoulder. 
 
 " Now sit down here and rest," the mistress of 
 ceremonies said, when they reached the foot of the 
 stairs. " Here 's a chair all ready, and, Roger, 
 we sha'n't need you any more." 
 
 " I don't want him around," she said, as they 
 were left to themselves. "You can lean on me, 
 can't you, dear ? " 
 
 "I've done that already, pretty often," Richard 
 said, putting his arm around her as she stood 
 beside his chair. " You have n't changed the hall 
 any, I see." 
 
 "'No, indeed ; I've always admired this hall." 
 
 With its walls hung with family portraits, its 
 highly polished floor, the carved settles, and beauti- 
 ful bear and chamois skins in front of them, the 
 hall certainly could not have been improved. 
 
 " Now, if you 're rested, we '11 go into the draw- 
 ing-room."
 
 234 RICH ENOUGH. 
 
 With his hand resting lightly on Betty's shoul- 
 der, Richard walked in and looked about him. 
 Betty chattered on as fast as she could. " Don't 
 you think this is a nice place for the piano ? 
 I expect you to give me music every evening 
 after dinner. That lazy looking window-seat is 
 for me while you play to me. Just sit down on 
 it and try it." 
 
 " I would n't believe it the same house," he said 
 as he obeyed her. 
 
 " And you are sure you don't mind ? " Betty 
 asked anxiously. 
 
 " Mind ! it 's like coming out of a nightmare. 
 Wherever I 've been, the memory of these gloomy 
 rooms has haunted me ; " and a shadow crept over 
 his face. 
 
 " Now we '11 come out and have dinner," said 
 Betty, promptly. 
 
 Richard exclaimed in amazement as she threw 
 open the door. The sun was pouring in through 
 a new Dutch window, lighting up the shining 
 sideboard with its array of family plate. The table 
 was brilliant with glass and flowers. 
 
 "It isn't possible that this is our old north 
 room ! " he said. 
 
 " Is n't it changed ? I 'm so glad you had all 
 this mahogany," Betty said, taking her place. 
 " I 've always wanted to preside over a mahogany 
 table, and here I am ! "
 
 RICH ENOUGH. 235 
 
 After dinner, she slipped her arm through her 
 husband's, and drew him toward the door which 
 opened into the old study. 
 
 u Oh, Betty, not in there ; " and he shrank back. 
 
 " Yes, dear, do come ! It 's the best of all, my 
 own particular corner ; " and Betty drew him for- 
 ward persuasively. 
 
 She was almost frightened as to the result of her 
 experiment, he grew so pale. She whisked him 
 into the big chair and looked so alarmed that he 
 made a great effort to recover himself, and as he 
 realized how unfamiliar the surroundings were, the 
 tense look disappeared from his face. 
 
 " Betty, you are a magician," he said. " You 
 are changing every painful association of my life 
 into something pleasant." 
 
 Such a light as came into her face at his words ! 
 She was longing, yet hardly daring, to tell him of her 
 discovery. Would it be too much for him ? She 
 could hardly wait, and to banish her impatience 
 she began to move about the room. She put a 
 fresh log on the fire ; she re-arranged the window- 
 hangings ; she threw the pillows on the couch into 
 more artistic positions, Richard watching her all 
 the time with a face full of content. 
 
 When his expression seemed to her sufficiently 
 placid, Betty sat down by him and told him how 
 the hope of finding the paper on which he had set 
 his heart had moved her to change, the house all
 
 236 RICH ENOUGH. 
 
 through ; how she had looked in every crevice ; 
 how she had had the furniture taken apart, and had 
 searched through each thing that she had put away 
 in the attic ; and then how she had felt she could 
 not banish the family Bible, " And oh, how glad I 
 am that I did n't ! " she ended. 
 
 Richard's face grew dark. 
 
 " Yesterday," she continued, slipping her hand 
 into his, " I thought I would like to know what 
 your father's first name was, and so I looked. 
 Richard, see what I have found ! " She brought the 
 book over to him and put it on his knee; with 
 trembling hands she turned to the page. 
 
 " See this * over,' and look, look ! " 
 
 Richard looked mechanically where she pointed. 
 He seemed absolutely turned to stone until Betty 
 threw her arms around him. 
 
 " Oh, don't you see what it means, my darling ? " 
 
 Then he broke down ; great tearless sobs shook 
 him, and Betty was almost distracted. He seemed 
 unconscious of her presence. " What have I 
 done ? " she cried. " Richard, Richard, speak to 
 me ! Don't you see that I am with you ? " 
 
 She burst into tears, and then Richard turned 
 to her, and they cried in each other's arms like 
 two children. 
 
 Betty was the first to recover herself. 
 
 " How foolish we are when we are really so 
 glad ! " she said, with a little catch in her voice.
 
 RICH ENOUGH. 237 
 
 " Richard, do look at the text ; I left it for you to 
 see first." 
 
 He turned over the pages until he came to the 
 place, and read, while Betty leaned over his 
 shoulder : 
 
 " ' I will bless the Lord who hath given me coun- 
 sel ; my reins also instruct me in the night seasons. 
 
 " ' Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory 
 rejoiceth ; my flesh also shall rest in hope.' " 
 
 " Does n't it satisfy you, Richard ? " she asked, 
 when he said nothing. 
 
 " Yes, dear," Richard said, " but I can't realize it 
 all at once." 
 
 " You will be happy now, won't you ? " There 
 was such entreaty in her voice that Richard for the 
 first time fully appreciated how she had shared 
 his burden with him. 
 
 " My darling, I aw happy ;" and Richard clasped 
 both her hands as she stood by him. " You have 
 taken all the shadows out of my life." 
 
 Betty smiled upon him radiantly, her eyelashes 
 still wet with tears. " Oh, Richard, I wish I could 
 make every one in the world as happy as I am ! " 
 She slipped into a chair beside him and leaned her 
 head against his shoulder. 
 
 " It does 'nt say as much as it might," said Betty, 
 presently, with a little sigh. 
 
 " My father was a very reticent man, Betty. I 
 don't know but that it would have been impossible
 
 238 EICH ENOUGH. 
 
 for him to speak to me of his change of feeling. 
 He meant me to understand everything from these 
 verses. Why did I never think of looking here ! " 
 
 " I don't know why you should be expected to," 
 Betty said. She had her own private opinion of 
 Richard's father, and could not forget that blotted 
 name. " It was just by accident that I looked there." 
 
 " It was n't accident," said Richard, reverently ; 
 " I believe you were led to it." 
 
 As Betty saw the brightness of true happiness 
 dawning in his eyes, her buoyant spirit rose to the 
 most fanciful heights, and the plans which they 
 made for the future were as bright as the firelight 
 that danced over their faces. 
 
 Betty was as joyous as a bird the next day, when 
 she had the delight of telling the great news, and 
 was sufficiently herself to say to Marian : 
 
 " To think that Bible was the one thing in the 
 house I had not explored ! It never occurred to 
 me that that bad old man would have any use for 
 a Bible ! But I 'm not going to call him ' bad ' 
 any more ; he did his best to atone for his 
 wickedness." 
 
 Madame Salisbury was almost as much excited 
 as Betty. She took it upon herself to inform all 
 the old family friends of Richard's acquittal by his 
 father, and there was a great rallying around the 
 young people. The letters and messages that 
 Richard received were almost too much for him.
 
 "CAN YOU BE READY?"
 
 RICH ENOUGH. 239 
 
 " Would n't you like to get away for a while ? " 
 he said to Betty one day, over their afternoon tea. 
 " Supposing I wire for a stateroom for next 
 Wednesday, and we sail for Italy and stay there 
 until our friends forget us ? Can you be ready ? " 
 
 " To-morrow if you like," said Betty, promptly. 
 " I 'm just dying to get away myself, but I did n't 
 think it would be delicate for me to suggest it." 
 
 They did not actually get off the next day, but 
 in a very short time they were ready for departure. 
 
 " To think," Betty said to her family, " how only 
 a few months ago I was envying May Viuton 
 because she was going abroad, and now I 'm going 
 myself ! " 
 
 The young Kents happened to be all by them- 
 selves around the fire, the " extraneous attach- 
 ments," as Bob called the added members, being 
 absent. 
 
 " We are going to live entirely for ourselves for 
 a little while," went on Betty, " and then we are 
 coming back to see what we can do for other 
 people. Richard has some beautiful plans for 
 using his father's money, and I am now seriously 
 thinking of turning into a philanthropist myself." 
 
 Will gave a subdued chuckle. " What line do 
 you propose to go in for ? " 
 
 " I know what I should like to do," said Betty. 
 " I should like to give people lovely little surprises. 
 Of course it 's the most sensible thing to help them
 
 240 RICH ENOUGH. 
 
 to the necessities of life, but I 've always thought 
 how I should love to give them the extravagances. 
 When a girl is drudging along in the soberest kind 
 of way, instead of providing her with a neat pair 
 of cotton gloves, I 'd drop down a five-pound box of 
 Huyler's in her lap, or a great box of roses, some- 
 thing unexpected, to give her a few moments of 
 pure bliss, free from any practical considerations." 
 
 " The * unexpected ' always did appeal to you, 
 Betty ! " said Bob. 
 
 " Well, I know I would a great deal rather have 
 the candy, and girls are all alike." 
 
 " If you are going to be a wise philanthropist, 
 you must n't talk about ' giving,' " said Marian. 
 " You 'd better study social economics while you 
 are abroad." 
 
 " Oh, dear, if I could only take you all with me, I 
 should be perfectly happy," sighed Betty. 
 
 " Thank you for the wish, but I think you might 
 find us rather in the way sometimes," Marian said, 
 laughing. 
 
 "I should accept your polite invitation in- 
 stantly," said Bob, " if it were not for a little 
 performance I am interested in next June. How 
 can you go off, Betty, and leave me to graduate 
 alone ? I would n't have believed it of you ! " 
 
 " Oh, I know it," said his twin, remorsefully ; " I 
 can't bear to think of that, but then 
 
 " It 's not that you love Robert less, but Richard
 
 KICK ENOUGH. 241 
 
 more, is n't it, Betty ? " Will said with fellow- 
 feeling. 
 
 " Ay, there 's the rub ! " and Bob sat up on the 
 hearthrug and clutched his hair with dramatic 
 wildness. " Little did I think what this return to 
 the home of our ancestors would rob me of." 
 
 " Do you remember the night we discussed com- 
 ing out here to live ? " asked Marian, looking up at 
 Will, who was leaning against the mantel by her. 
 " This is just the way we were then." 
 
 " Are n't you glad we came, Betty ? " demanded 
 Bob. 
 
 " I should think so, but how I hated the idea ! " 
 
 " I don't see but that every one has made some- 
 thing out of this move except myself. Marian has 
 found a whole mission field ; Will has found a wife 
 to keep him in order, and Betty a husband to spoil 
 her. What there will be left of him after she has 
 dragged him all over Europe I don't dare to 
 prophesy. He has my deepest sympathy ! " 
 
 " He does n't want it," said a voice behind him. 
 
 " Oh, are you there ? " queried Bob. " You are 
 not really needed." 
 
 " Yes, I need you," Betty said, making room for 
 her husband beside her. " Bob is holding forth on 
 what Southville has done for the Kent family, and 
 is slandering me." 
 
 " As I was about to remark," said Bob, " but for 
 your untimely entrance, Father Kent looks ten 
 
 16
 
 242 MCH ENOUGH. 
 
 years younger than he did ; Will is satisfying all 
 our youthful expectations ; Marian did n't need to 
 be any nicer than she was, but she is ; Betty has 
 developed most unexpectedly, though I don't feel 
 sure yet where she is coming out, and in her case 
 I reserve judgment ; but I think I may go so far 
 as to say, that by coming to Southville our family 
 has gained in size, in merit, and in distinction." 
 
 THE END.
 
 ANOTHER GIRL'S EXPERIENCE. 
 
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 vows by moonlight. Nothing was too ambitious to attempt, armor, 
 gondolas, harps, towers, and palaces grew as if by magic, and wonderful 
 scenes of valor and devotion were enacted before admiring audiences. 
 
 Jo, of course, played the villains, ghosts, bandits, and disdainful 
 queens ; for her tragedy-loving soul delighted in the lurid parts, and no 
 drama was perfect in her eyes without a touch of the demonic or super- 
 natural. Meg loved the sentimental roles, the tender maiden with the airy 
 robes and flowing locks, who made impossible sacrifices for ideal lovers, or 
 the cavalier, singing soft serenades and performing lofty acts of gallantry 
 and prowess. Amy was the fairy sprite, while Beth enacted the page or 
 messenger when the scene required their aid. 
 
 From the little stage library, still extant, the following plays have 
 been selected as fair examples of the work of these children of sixteen and 
 seventeen. With some slight changes and omissions, they remain as 
 written more than forty years ago by Meg and Jo, so dear to the hearts of 
 many other " Little Women." 
 
 For sale by all booksellers, and mailed, post-paid, on 
 receipt of price by the publishers, 
 
 ROBERTS BROTHERS, BOSTON, MASS
 
 BOOKS BY THE AUTHOR OF " MISS TOOSEY'S 
 MISSION" AND "LADDIE." 
 
 MISS TOOSEY'S MISSION, AND LADDIE. Bj cha 
 
 author of " Miss Toosey's Mission." Both in one volume. 161110. 
 50 cents. 
 
 They are two of the most finished and strengthening stories one may find, 
 although he seek long among choice stories. Exchange. 
 
 TIP CAT. A Story. i6mo. #1.00. 
 
 It is not, as the name might indicate, the story of a cat, but of a young man 
 who makes a brave effort to support his two little sisters. The children's little 
 amusements and artless way of relating them, and the brother's unselfish devo- 
 tion, are both pathetic and amusing. Boston Traveller. 
 
 OUR LITTLE ANN. i6mo. #1.00. 
 
 It breathes a pure and wholesome spirit, and is treated in a wholly artistic 
 and sympathetic manner. In every respect it is one of the most charming of 
 recent fictions. Post, Boston. 
 
 PEN. A Story. i6mo. 1.00. 
 
 "Pen" has the peculiar charm and 'pathos of the earlier books, with quite 
 as much of interest. It is thoroughly wholesome and sweet in its tone, a book to 
 put in the hands of all young people, or old ones either, for that matter. Living 
 Church. 
 
 LIL. A Story. i6mo. $1.00. 
 
 One of those bright, sweet, and pure little tales of English domestic life. 
 Both boys and girls will enjoy it. 
 
 ZOE. A Story. i6mo. 60 cents. 
 
 It tells of the power of a little life over the heart of a man made hard and 
 bitter by the world's disappointments, which resulted in winning him back to kind 
 and loving ways. 
 
 ROSE AND LAVENDER. A Story. i6mo. 1.00. 
 
 A simple story of English country life, but a story that breathes goodness a* 
 a rose does fragrance. 
 
 PRIS. A Story. i6mo. 50 cents. 
 
 Priswasa neglected girl, left motherless at fourteen, who thenceforth assumed 
 the charge of her father's household, and gave her days and nights to unselfish 
 and loving labor. It is a very sweet and pathetic story, filled -with beautiful 
 thoughts. 
 
 DEAR. A Story. With Frontispiece, by Jessie McDermott. i6mo. 
 
 Cloth. #1.00. 
 BABY JOHN. A Story. i6mo. 50 cents. 
 
 A story that will hold every reader from the nursery to the library. Budget. 
 
 POMONA. i6mo. $1.00. 
 
 FOR THE FOURTH TIME OF ASKING. i6mo. 50 cents. 
 
 DON. A Story. i6mo. $1.00. 
 
 MY HONEY. A Story. i6mo. $1.00. 
 
 ROBERTS BROTHERS, Publishers, Boston.
 
 4+< * 
 
 A 000133364 o