drew his head against hers, and knew a minute of complete joy.

When Adam entered the house his mother was very busy. She was mixing
more biscuit dough, she was laughing like a girl of sixteen, she
snatched out one of their finest tablecloths, and put on many extra
dishes for supper, while Uncle Robert, looking like a different man,
was helping her. He was actually stirring the gravy, and getting the
water, and setting up chairs. And he was under high tension, too. He
was saying things of no moment, as if they were profound wisdom, and
laughing hilariously at things that were scarcely worth a smile. Adam
looked on, and marvelled and all the while his irritation grew. At
last he saw a glance of understanding pass between them. He could
endure it no longer.

"Oh, you might as well SAY what you think," he burst forth. "You
forgot to pull down the blinds."

Both the brazen creatures laughed as if that were a fine joke. They
immediately threw off all reserve. By the time the meal was finished,
Adam was struggling to keep from saying the meanest things he could
think of. Also, he had to go to Milly, with nothing very definite to
tell. But when he came back, his mother was waiting for him. She said
at once: "Adam, I'm very sorry the blind was up to-night. I wanted to
talk to you, and tell you myself, that the first real love for a man
that I have ever known, is in my heart to-night."

"Why, Mother!" said Adam.

"It's true," said Kate, quietly. "You see Adam, the first time I ever
saw Robert Gray, I knew, and he knew, that he had made a mistake in
engaging himself to Nancy Ellen; but the thing was done, she was happy,
we simply realized that we would have done better together, and let it
go at that. But all these years I have known that I could have made
him a wife who would have come closer to his ideals than my sister, and
SHE should have had the man who wanted to marry me. They would have
had a wonderful time together."

"And where did my father come in?" asked Adam, quietly.

"He took advantage of my blackest hour," said Kate. "I married him
when I positively didn't care what happened to me. The man I could
have LOVED was married to my sister, the man I could have married and
lived with in comfort to both of us was out of the question; it was in
the Bates blood to marry about the time I did; I had seen only the very
best of your father, and he was an attractive lover, not bad looking,
not embarras