seemed a little worse than the one before. Nowhere
was there comfort, rest, or peacefulness. The nights were a torture of
apprehension, and the days an even greater torture of fulfilment. Noise,
confusion, meals poorly cooked and worse served, dust, disorder, and
uncertainty. And this was _home_, Billy told herself bitterly. No wonder
that Bertram telephoned more and more frequently that he had met a
friend, and was dining in town. No wonder that William pushed back
his plate almost every meal with his food scarcely touched, and then
wandered about the house with that hungry, homesick, homeless look that
nearly broke her heart. No wonder, indeed!

And so it had come. It was true. Aunt Hannah and Kate and the "Talk to
Young Wives" were right. She had not been fit to marry Bertram. She had
not been fit to marry anybody. Her honeymoon was not only waning, but
going into a total eclipse. Had not Bertram already declared that if she
would tend to her husband and her home a little more--

Billy clenched her small hands and set her round chin squarely.

Very well, she would show them. She would tend to her husband and her
home. She fancied she could _learn_ to run that house, and run it well!
And forthwith she descended to the kitchen and told the then reigning
tormentor that her wages would be paid until the end of the week, but
that her services would be immediately dispensed with.

Billy was well aware now that housekeeping was a matter of more than
muffins and date puffs. She could gauge, in a measure, the magnitude of
the task to which she had set herself. But she did not falter; and very
systematically she set about making her plans.

With a good stout woman to come in twice a week for the heavier work,
she believed she could manage by herself very well until Eliza could
come back. At least she could serve more palatable meals than the most
of those that had appeared lately; and at least she could try to make a
home that would not drive Bertram to club dinners, and Uncle William to
hungry wanderings from room to room. Meanwhile, all the time, she could
be learning, and in due course she would reach that shining goal of
Housekeeping Efficiency, short of which--according to Aunt Hannah and
the "Talk to Young Wives"--no woman need hope for a waneless honeymoon.

So chaotic and erratic had been the household service, and so quietly
did Billy slip into her new role, that it was not until the second meal
after the maid's