world to her, and the past year had shown her what
tremendous possibilities the future held for the young girl if wisely
shaped for her. The two ensuing hours were pleasant and profitable for
all concerned and when they ended and Captain Stewart and his party
re-entered the taxicab to return to their hotel in Washington, it was
decided that Peggy should come to Columbia Heights School on October
fifteenth, but Polly's decision was still in abeyance. She wished to
have one of her long, quiet talks with her aunt before "shifting her
holding ground," she said, and that could only be up in Middie's Haven,
cuddled upon a hassock beside Mrs. Harold's easy chair, with the logs
lazily flickering upon the brass andirons. So the ensuing two days in
Washington were given over to sightseeing and "a general blow-out," as
Captain Stewart termed it, insisting that he could not have another for
months and meant to make this one "an A-1 affair." Then back they went
to Severndale where Mrs. Stewart, to their surprise, had returned the
previous day, having failed to find her friend in Baltimore. As she had
already overstayed the length of time for which her invitation to
Severndale had been extended, she had no possible excuse for prolonging
it, and deciding that her schemes had met with defeat largely owing to
her own impolitic precipitation in forcing the situation, she did not
mean to make an ignominious retreat. So, with well assumed suavity she
told her brother-in-law that some urgent business matters claimed her
attention in New York, and asked if he could complete his arrangements
for Peggy's departure without her aid, as she really ought to go North
without delay.

If Neil Stewart was amused by this sudden change in the lady's tactics,
to his credit be it said that he did not betray any sign of it. He
thanked her for her kind interest in Peggy and his home, for all she had
done for them, and left nothing lacking for her comfort upon her
homeward journey, even shipping to the apartment in New York enough
fruit, game and various other good things from Severndale to keep her
larder well supplied for weeks, and supplementing all these with a gift
which would be the envy of all her friends. But when he returned to
Severndale after bidding the lady farewell at the station, he breathed
one mighty sigh of relief. He had escaped a situation of which the
outcome was a good deal more than problematical for everyone concerned,
and most vital