make no difference where my mother's people were brought up. The
Craigs always knew how to conduct themselves."

"Oh, yes," Witherspoon spoke up, "the Craigs were undoubtedly all
right, but we are dealing with live issues now. Henry, we'll go down
to the store this morning"--

"So soon?" his wife interrupted.

"So soon?" the merchant repeated. "What do you mean by so soon? Won't
it be time to go?"

"Oh, yes, I suppose so."

"And where do I come in?" asked the girl.

"You can go if you insist," said Witherspoon, "but there are matters
that he and I must arrange at once. We've got to fix up some sort of
statement for the newspapers; can't keep this thing a secret, you
know, and a tailor must be consulted. Your clothes are all right, my
son," he quickly added, "but--well, you understand."

Henry understood, but he had thought when he left New Orleans that he
was well dressed. And now for a moment he felt ragged.

"When shall we have the reception?" Ellen asked.

"The reception," Henry repeated, looking up in alarm.

"Why, listen to him," the girl cried. "Don't you know that we must
give a reception? Why, we couldn't get along without it; society would
cut us dead. Think how nice it will be--invitations with 'To meet Mr.
Henry Witherspoon' on them."

"Must I go through that?" Henry asked, appealing to Mrs. Witherspoon.

"Of course you must, but not until the proper time."

"Why, it will be just splendid," the girl declared. "You ought to have
seen me the night society smiled and said, 'Well, we will now permit
you to be one of us.' Oh, the idea of not showing you off, now that
we've caught you, is ridiculous. You needn't appeal to mother. You
couldn't keep her from parading you up and down in the presence of her
friends."

He was looking at Mrs. Witherspoon. She smiled with more of humor than
he had seen her face express, and thus delivered her opinion: "If we
had no reception, people would think that we were ashamed of our son."

"All right, mother; if you want your friends to meet the wild man of
Borneo who has just come to town, I have nothing more to say. Your
word shall be a law with me; but I must tell you that whenever you
make arrangements into which I enter, you must remember that society
and I have had scarcely a hat-tipping acquaintance. I may know many
things that society never even dreamed of, but some of society's
simplest phases are dangerous mysteries to me."

"Nonsense," said Witherspoo