s afraid
you--" he stopped short. Deborah bent close to him, and he felt her squeeze
his arm:

"I've been over and over all you said," she told him, in a low sweet voice.
"I had a good many ups and downs. But I'm all through now--I'm sure you
were right." And she pressed her cheek to his. "Oh, dad, dad--it's such a
relief! And I'm so happy!... Thank you, dear."

"Where is Allan?" he asked presently.

"I'll get him," she said. She left the room, and in a moment Allan's tall
ungainly form appeared in the doorway.

"Well, Allan, my boy," Roger cried.

"Oh, Roger Gale," said Allan softly. He was wringing Roger's hand.

"So she decided to risk you, eh," Roger said unsteadily. "Well, Baird, you
look like a devilish risk for a woman like her--who has the whole world on
her back as it is--"

"I know--I know--and how rash she has been! Only two years and her mind was
made up!"

"But that's like her--that's our Deborah--always acting like a flash--"

"Stop acting like children!" Deborah cried. "And be sensible and listen to
me! We're to be married to-morrow morning--"

"Why to-morrow?" Roger asked.

"Because," she said decidedly, "there has been enough fuss over this
affair. So we'll just be married and have it done. And when Edith and the
children go up next week to the mountains, we want to move right into this
house."

"This house?" exclaimed her father.

"I know--it's sold," she answered. "But we're going to get a lease. We'll
see the new owner and talk him around."

"Then you'll have to talk _your father_ around--"

"_You_ around?" And Deborah stared. "You mean to say you're not going to
sell?"

"I do," said Roger blithely. He told them the story of John's new scheme.
"And if things turn out in the office as I hope they will," he ended,
"we'll clear the mortgage on the house and then make it your wedding
gift--from the new firm to the new family."

Deborah choked a little:

"Allan! What do you think of us now?"

"I think," he answered, in a drawl, "that we'd better try to persuade the
new firm to live with the new family."

"We will, and the sooner the better!" she said.

"I'm going up to the mountains," said Roger.

"Yes, but you're coming back in the fall, and when you do you're coming
here! And you're going to live here years and years!"

"You're forgetting my doctor."

"Not at all. I had a long talk with him Sunday and I know just what I'm
saying."

"You don't look it, my dear," said Rog