o were hardly able to realize even now that she had
really grown up. It was not till the reception, when Persis with
Thomas following bashfully in her wake came up lo proffer her good
wishes, that Diantha relapsed into youthfulness. She flung her arms
about her old friend's neck and kissed her tumultuously.

"Darling Miss Persis, how perfectly lovely you look! Did you get that
beautiful dress just for my wedding?"

The composition of Persis' reply apparently took a little time. She
did not speak for a minute.

"Yes, I made it for your wedding," she returned at length. "But I used
it for my own, too. Thomas and I slipped over to the minister's after
supper and got married. So we'll both wish each other joy, my dearie."

It was a shock of course, but Clematis was getting used to that where
Persis was concerned. And Mrs. Hornblower voiced the feeling of more
than herself when she commented on the affair at the next meeting of
the Woman's Club. Persis was not present. She and Thomas had gone on
a wedding trip to the seashore, and taken all the children.

"It's a kind of back-handed way of getting a family," said Mrs.
Hornblower. "Picking up one child here and another there, and then
winding up with a husband. But I must say it'll take a load off my
mind to see a man at the head of Persis Dale's pew."

CHAPTER XXIV

FAIR PLAY

The late October sunshine poured its prodigal gold into the little room
of which Annabel Sinclair was the sole occupant, and as its single door
and window were both closed, the resulting temperature was suggestive
of mid-July. The room itself was plain and bare. The cottage Thad
West had purchased the year following his marriage was needlessly
spacious for the immediate requirements of the two young people and for
that reason, several of the rooms had been left unfurnished or nearly
so, until time should justify Thad's foresight. As a rule Annabel had
a feline instinct for comfort, selecting the easiest chair and the
pleasantest outlook almost unconsciously. To-day her discomfort and
the convent-like austerity of her surroundings failed to impress her.
She was hardly aware of them.

She was not in her daughter's home of her own volition that October
morning. She had yielded as the most self-willed must on occasion to
the assumption of her little world that this was the place where she
would wish to be. But the first glimpse of Diantha had convinced her
that her shrink