"We all do. Could I give you anything better on a day like this?"

"No thank you very much." And a sudden dew came to Rose's eyes, for,
though often blunt in speech, when Mac did do a tender thing, it always
touched her because he seemed to understand her moods so well.

"Has Archie been here? He said he shouldn't go anywhere else, but I hope
you talked that nonsense out of his head," said Steve, settling his tie
before the mirror.

"Yes, dear, he came but looked so out of spirits I really felt
reproached. Rose cheered him up a little, but I don't believe he will
feel equal to making calls and I hope he won't, for his face tells the
whole story much too plainly," answered Aunty Plenty, rustling about her
bountiful table in her richest black silk with all her old lace on.

"Oh, he'll get over it in a month or two, and Phebe will soon find
another lover, so don't be worried about him, Aunty," said Steve, with
the air of a man who knew all about that sort of thing.

"If Archie does forget, I shall despise him, and I know Phebe won't try
to find another lover, though she'll probably have them she is so sweet
and good!" cried Rose indignantly, for, having taken the pair under her
protection, she defended them valiantly.

"Then you'd have Arch hope against hope and never give up, would you?"
asked Mac, putting on his glasses to survey the thin boots which were
his especial abomination.

"Yes, I would, for a lover is not worth having if he's not in earnest!"

"Exactly. So you'd like them to wait and work and keep on loving till
they made you relent or plainly proved that it was no use."

"If they were good as well as constant, I think I should relent in
time."

"I'll mention that to Pemberton, for he seemed to be hit the hardest,
and a ray of hope will do him good, whether he is equal to the ten
years' wait or not," put in Steve, who liked to rally Rose about her
lovers.

"I'll never forgive you if you say a word to anyone. It is only Mac's
odd way of asking questions, and I ought not to answer them. You will
talk about such things and I can't stop you, but I don't like it," said
Rose, much annoyed.

"Poor little Penelope! She shall not be teased about her suitors but
left in peace till her Ulysses comes home," said Mac, sitting down to
read the mottoes sticking out of certain fanciful bonbons on the table.

"It is this fuss about Archie which has demoralized us all. Even the owl
waked up and hasn't got over