and the things which belong to it, and living as
a part of it, not above it, and looking down upon it. Perhaps all
American women will come to that some day and I shall simply be blazing
the way for them. I shall probably grow rosy and round, and if you
ever ride up to my door-step, yon will find me a buxom and blooming
matron instead of a golden girl. And you won't like it in the least.
But my husband will like it, because he thinks a bit as I do about it,
and he doesn't care for the woman who lives for her looks.

"I shall come and see Flora before I go West. But I am going to be
married first. We both have a feeling that it must be now--that
something might happen if we put it off, and nothing must happen. I
love him too much. Of course you won't believe that. I can hardly
believe it myself. But I have someone to climb the heights with me,
Georgie, and we shall ascend to the peak--together."

For a wedding present George sent Madge the pendant he had bought for
Becky. To connect it up with Madge's favorite color scheme, he had an
amethyst put in place of the sapphire. He was glad to give it away.
Every time he had come upon it, it had reminded him of things that he
wished to forget.

Yet he could not forget. Even as Becky had thought of him, he had
thought of her; of her radiant youth on the morning that Randy had
arrived; at the Horse Show in her shabby shoes and sailor hat; in the
Bird Room in pale blue under the swinging lamp; in the music room
between tall candles; in the garden, with a star shining into the still
pool; that last night, on the balcony, leaning over, with a yellow
lantern like a halo behind her.

There were other things that he thought of--of Randy, in khaki on the
station platform; Randy, lean and tall among the boarders; Randy, left
behind with Kemp in the rain; Randy, debonair and insolent, announcing
his engagement on the terrace at Hamilton Hill; Randy, a shadow against
a silver sky, answering Becky's call; Randy, in the dark by the
fountain, with muscles like iron, forcing him inevitably back, lifting
him above the basin, letting him drop----; Randy, the Conqueror,
marching away with Becky's fan as his trophy----!

New York was, of course, at this season of the year, a pageant of
sparkling crowds, and of brilliant window displays, of new productions
at the theaters. People were coming back to town. Even the
fashionable folk were running down to taste the elixir of the e