ight-fall
we would have rejoiced to know that even the original fragment of the
Sum had been saved out of the general wreck of things on the Street.

It was. Even a little more, for the stop-loss that had failed to hold
against the first sudden and overwhelming pressure, had caught somewhere
about twenty, and our brokers next morning advised us of the sale.

It was a quiet breakfast that we had. We were rather mixed as to our
feelings, but I know now that a sense of relief was what we felt most.
It was all over--the tension of anxious days, and the restless nights.
Many had been ruined utterly. We had saved something out of the
wreck--enough to pay the difference in our rent. Then, too, we were
alive and well, and we had our Precious Ones. Also our furniture, which
was both satisfactory and paid for. Through the open windows the sweet
spring air was blowing in, bringing a breath and memory of country
lanes. Even before breakfast was over I reminded the Little Woman of
what she had once said about needing a home of our own, now that we had
things to put in it. I said that the memory of our one brief suburban
experience was like a dream of sunlit and perfumed fields. That we had
run the whole gamut of apartment life and the Apollo had been the
post-graduate course. In some ways it was better than the others, and if
we chose to pinch and economize in other ways, as many did, we still
might manage to pay for its luxury, but after all it was not, and never
had been a home to me, while the ground and the Precious Ones were too
far apart for health.

And the Little Woman, God bless her, agreed instantly and heartily, and
declared that we would go. Onyx and gilded elegance she said were
obtained at too great a price for people with simple tastes and moderate
incomes. As for stocks, we agreed that they were altogether in keeping
with our present surroundings--with the onyx and the gilt--with the
fallen nobleman below stairs and those who were fallen and not noble,
the artificial aristocrats, who rode up and down with us on the
elevator. We had had quite enough of it all. We had taken our apartment
for a year, but as the place was already full, with tenants waiting,
there would be no trouble to sublet to some one of the many who are ever
willing to spend most of their income in rent and live the best way they
can. Peace be with them. They are welcome to do so, but for people like
ourselves the Apollo was not built, and _Vanitas