Norah to her mother.

"Hush now! In good time," replied Mrs. Butler to Norah. "Wait. We'll
fix it all up some day, sure. You run to your lessons now. You've had
enough."

Norah arose and left. Aileen subsided. Her father was simply stubborn
and impossible. And yet he was sweet, too. She pouted in order to compel
him to apologize.

"Come now," he said, after they had left the table, and conscious of the
fact that his daughter was dissatisfied with him. He must do something
to placate her. "Play me somethin' on the piano, somethin' nice." He
preferred showy, clattery things which exhibited her skill and muscular
ability and left him wondering how she did it. That was what education
was for--to enable her to play these very difficult things quickly and
forcefully. "And you can have a new piano any time you like. Go and see
about it. This looks pretty good to me, but if you don't want it, all
right." Aileen squeezed his arm. What was the use of arguing with her
father? What good would a lone piano do, when the whole house and
the whole family atmosphere were at fault? But she played Schumann,
Schubert, Offenbach, Chopin, and the old gentleman strolled to and
fro and mused, smiling. There was real feeling and a thoughtful
interpretation given to some of these things, for Aileen was not without
sentiment, though she was so strong, vigorous, and withal so defiant;
but it was all lost on him. He looked on her, his bright, healthy,
enticingly beautiful daughter, and wondered what was going to become of
her. Some rich man was going to many her--some fine, rich young man with
good business instincts--and he, her father, would leave her a lot of
money.

There was a reception and a dance to be given to celebrate the
opening of the two Cowperwood homes--the reception to be held in Frank
Cowperwood's residence, and the dance later at his father's. The Henry
Cowperwood domicile was much more pretentious, the reception-room,
parlor, music-room, and conservatory being in this case all on the
ground floor and much larger. Ellsworth had arranged it so that those
rooms, on occasion, could be thrown into one, leaving excellent space
for promenade, auditorium, dancing--anything, in fact, that a large
company might require. It had been the intention all along of the two
men to use these houses jointly. There was, to begin with, a combination
use of the various servants, the butler, gardener, laundress, and maids.
Frank Cowperwood employed