tand it
thoroughly herself, only she knew that she could never again demand that
another woman--as young, perhaps, and as fond of amusement as
herself--should give a lifetime to taking care of her wardrobe. Personal
service like that would annoy and embarrass her now. The first thing to
do was to make her life less complex in such matters. She put her hand
over Miss Bennett's as it lay on the table.

"Shouldn't you think she'd wish me back at hard labor?" she said to
Bobby. "She takes such a lot of trouble for me."

Miss Bennett, emotionally susceptible to praise, wiped her eyes, and
presently went away, leaving Bobby and Lydia alone. She wondered if
perhaps that would be the best thing for Lydia to do--to rebuild her
life on Bobby's gay but unwavering devotion.

Lydia, leaning her elbows on the table and her chin on her hands,
listened while Bobby gossiped over the empty coffee cups. Did Lydia know
about this Western coal man that May Swayne was going to marry? Bobby
set him before her in an instant--"A round-faced man, Lydia, with
$30,000,000, and such a vocabulary! He never thinks; he presumes. He
doesn't come into a room; he ventures to intrude. May has quite a lot of
alterations to do on him."

And the Piers--had Lydia heard about them? Fanny had fallen in love with
the prophet of a new religion and had made all her arrangements to
divorce Noel, but before she left him, as a proof of her new powers,
she thought she'd cure him of drinking. Well, my dear, she did. And the
result was she found she liked a nonalcoholic Noel better than ever--and
she chucked the seer. Can you beat it?

Shadows--they did seem like shadows to Lydia. Staring before her, she
fell into meditation, remembering Evans and the pale coffee-colored
Muriel and the matron--the small, placid-browed matron who knew not
fear.

Suddenly she came back to realize that Bobby was asking her to marry
him.

Most of their acquaintances believed that he never did anything else;
but as a matter of fact, it was the first time he had ever put it into
words. He wasn't sure it was a tactful thing to do now. She might
think--Bobby was always terribly aware of what people might think--that
his suggesting such a mediocre future for her was to admit that he
thought her beaten. Whereas to him she was as triumphant and desirable
as ever. On the other hand, it might be just the right thing to do. With
men like Albee getting to cover and some people bound to be hat