er!" he exclaimed; "nothing like this should have happened to
her. She has so much pride of person. She's not at all an old woman, you
know. She's never got beyond vigorous and rather dashing middle age." He
turned abruptly to Thea and for the first time really looked at her.
"How badly things come out! She'd have liked you for a daughter-in-law.
Oh, you'd have fought like the devil, but you'd have respected each
other." He sank into a chair and thrust his feet out to the fire.
"Still," he went on thoughtfully, seeming to address the ceiling, "it
might have been bad for you. Our big German houses, our good German
cooking--you might have got lost in the upholstery. That substantial
comfort might take the temper out of you, dull your edge. Yes," he
sighed, "I guess you were meant for the jolt of the breakers."

"I guess I'll get plenty of jolt," Thea murmured, turning to her trunk.

"I'm rather glad I'm not staying over until to-morrow," Fred reflected.
"I think it's easier for me to glide out like this. I feel now as if
everything were rather casual, anyhow. A thing like that dulls one's
feelings."

Thea, standing by her trunk, made no reply. Presently he shook himself
and rose. "Want me to put those trays in for you?"

"No, thank you. I'm not ready for them yet."

Fred strolled over to the sofa, lifted a scarf from one of the trays and
stood abstractedly drawing it through his fingers. "You've been so kind
these last few days, Thea, that I began to hope you might soften a
little; that you might ask me to come over and see you this summer."

"If you thought that, you were mistaken," she said slowly. "I've
hardened, if anything. But I shan't carry any grudge away with me, if
you mean that."

He dropped the scarf. "And there's nothing--nothing at all you'll let me
do?"

"Yes, there is one thing, and it's a good deal to ask. If I get knocked
out, or never get on, I'd like you to see that Dr. Archie gets his money
back. I'm taking three thousand dollars of his."

"Why, of course I shall. You may dismiss that from your mind. How fussy
you are about money, Thea. You make such a point of it." He turned
sharply and walked to the windows.

Thea sat down in the chair he had quitted. "It's only poor people who
feel that way about money, and who are really honest," she said gravely.
"Sometimes I think that to be really honest, you must have been so poor
that you've been tempted to steal."

"To what?"

"To steal. I use