spend on anything you wanted,
you'd--"

"Billy," Nancy said solemnly, "I've been through all that. If I had
thought I would have been a better person with a great deal of money
at my disposal, I--I might have--"

"Married Dick," Billy finished for her. "I forgot that interesting
possibility. I suppose to a girl who has just turned down a cold five
millions, this meager little proposition"--he flourished the crumpled
document in his hand--"has no real allure. Lord! What a world this is.
You'll marry Dick yet. Them as has--_gits_. It never rains but it
pours. To the victor belong the spoils, _et cetera, et cetera_--"

"Money simply does not interest me."

"Dick interests you. I don't know to what extent, but he interests
you."

"Don't be sentimental, Billy. Just because you're in love with
Caroline, you can't make all your other friends marry each other. Tell
me what to do about this legacy. What is customary when you get a lump
of money like that? I suppose I'll have to begin to get rid of all
_this_ immediately." There was more than a hint of tears in her voice,
but she smiled at Billy bravely. "I'm so perfectly crazy about
these--these cups and saucers, Billy. See the lovely way that rose is
split to fit into the design. Oh, when do I come into possession,
anyway?"

"You don't come into possession right away, you know. You don't
inherit for a couple of years, under the Rhode Island law. The
formalities will take--"

"Billy Boynton, do you mean to say that I won't have to do a blessed
thing about this money for two years?" Nancy shrieked.

"Why, no. It takes a certain amount of red tape to settle an estate,
to probate a will, etc., and the law allows a period of time, varying
in different states--"

"Oho! Is there anything in all this universe so stupid as a man?"
Nancy interrupted fervently. "Why didn't you tell me that before? Do
you suppose I care how much money I have two years from now? Two years
of freedom, why, that's all I want, Billy. There you've been sitting
up winking and blinking at me like a sympathetic old owl, when all I
needed to know was that I had two years of grace. Of course, I'll go
on with my tea-room, and not a soul shall know the difference."

"While the feminine temperament has my hearty admiration and my most
cordial endorsement," Billy murmured, "there are things about it--"

"I won't have to tell anybody, will I?"

"There's no law to that effect. If your friends don't know i