l be willing to
wear these out for me, my dear."

Bettina put one bare foot on the floor, then the other, then she
fluttered across the room like a white butterfly and embraced Mrs.
Martens.

"It's lovely, only it doesn't seem quite right for me to take
everything."

"It is right. They would lie in my trunks until they were out of
fashion. There's a white felt hat that goes with this, and a long white
coat, and Diana is going to take you over to town this morning to get
white shoes and gloves and a veil."

"I thought we were to lunch on Bobbie Tucker's yacht."

"We were--but Bobbie has just telephoned that his yacht has to go to the
yard for repairs--something happened last night--so Justin will take us
for a ride."

"Oh," said Bettina. "Mr. Ford?"

"Yes. Justin has put his car at our disposal. He'll drive us to-day, but
when he can't there's the chauffeur--it's very kind of him."

"He's awfully good looking," said Bettina in a cool little voice, "but
don't you think he's terribly conceited, Mrs. Martens?"

Sophie nodded. "He's been spoiled. But back of it all he's a man. His
lightness is on the surface. I know, for he was in Berlin when my
husband was living. I saw the other side then. He was poor; it was
before he came so unexpectedly into his uncle's money. You know the old
man and his son were drowned in a dreadful accident. Justin was studying
aviation when we first knew him. He lived in shabby rooms, and ate at
shabby little places, and he used to come in the afternoons to call on
me, and I'd fill him up with thick bread and butter and coffee, and we'd
talk for hours of America. He was lonely poor lad, and I was like a big
sister. I shall never forget one bitter cold afternoon, when he came in
with his hands all red and rough, and with a hoarse cough, and I had the
maid bring him a bowl of soup hot from the kitchen, and he tried to make
a joke of it, but his voice broke, and presently he said, 'Dear big
sister, some day I can thank you, but not now.'

"And when my husband died," she went on, softly, "he did thank me in a
most generous way. He had just received his fortune when he heard of
my--trouble. He sent a wonderful cross to mark where my husband
sleeps--and I could have afforded only a little stone--and there are
flowers every week, even when I am far away, and there will always be
flowers because of his great generosity."

Here was a background for the light-hearted young Justin which appealed