sure we are not dreaming, and that all the good news is real, but
please remember I have put on a clean collar and--your tactics are
quite military. You are acquiring muscle."

Major Dale kissed his daughter fondly as she relinquished her hold on
him, and smoothed back a stray lock of his silvery hair.

"I'm so glad for you, daddy," she went on. "You do so need a real
rest, and now we will not have to plan every day what we may spend
to-morrow. I fancy I will still keep the note-book going with pounds
and prices of things, and an occasional orange, and even some foreign
fruit now and then. Dear me! I feel the good of that money already.
We can have so many luxuries--no more scrimping and patching--"

"But, daughter dear," interrupted the major, "you must not imagine that
mere money can bring happiness. It depends entirely upon the proper
use of that commodity--we must always exercise good judgment, whether
one dollar or one hundred dollars are involved."

"Oh, of course, I know we are not so very rich, we cannot just exactly
live sumptuously, but we may live comfortably. And really, daddy, now
that it is over, I may as well own up, I have longed with the longest
kind of longing for a brand-new hat. May I really have one? Ribbons
and all?"

"Two, one for Sunday and one for every day," promptly responded the
major, laughing. "But your hats always look new--"

"They do say I have talent for hats, and that one must have originality
to trim and keep old head-gear up to date. So, daddy dear, perhaps,
some day, that hint of talent may develop--I may be an artist or
something. Then I will bless the days when I had to make over hats to
discover myself," and Dorothy promptly clapped upon her blond head such
a confusion of straw and flowers, to say nothing of the dangling blue
ribbons, that even the major, with his limited appreciation of "keeping
old head-gear up-to-date" was forced to acknowledge that his daughter
did know how to trim a hat.

"When will the money come?" she asked, tilting her head to one side to
get a look in the small oval mirror, that was sufficiently large for
the major's neckties, but was plainly too short for hats.

"We won't get it by the pound, like butter, you know, daughter. Nor is
it a matter of so many blank checks to be filled out as we progress
with penmanship--like copy-book work. As a matter of fact, I have just
received the legal information that my dear old soldier uncle