Mr. Fabian temporarily resumed his lectureship at the Art School of
Cooper Union, and his two promising pupils, with Dodo Alexander as a new
beginner, accompanied him every night that the classes met.

The Alexanders had leased an expensive suite at an apartment hotel near
the Fabians, and much to little Mr. Alexander's joy, although much to
Mrs. Alexander's disgust, they settled down to a hum-drum life that
winter. She sighed as she referred to her life.

"Dear sakes! Here I am with all this money to spend on a fine time, and I
have to waste my days sitting around hearing Dodo rave about Corunthian
Columns, Ionack Piers, and such foolish stuff. As for Ebeneezer! He is
just impossible to get along with, since he found what quiet friends he
had in the Fabians and the Ashbys!"

The result of such complaints from Mrs. Alexander were soon evidenced by
her spending her evenings at theatres, dances at various clubs and places
she had forced an entrance to, and in daily shopping trips about the
city.

The motley collection of antiques the girls had secured while abroad and
had shipped home, arrived in due season and the cases were sent to Mr.
Ashby's Shop. The girls were told that the goods had been delivered, and
the next day they hastened to the establishment to admire their
purchases.

The articles were arranged in one small room, and when the three girls
followed Mr. Ashby to the place, they were amazed at the insignificance
of their exhibition.

"Why! I thought I had a lot of stuff," declared Eleanor.

"You see all that you bought. There is your list," laughed Mr. Ashby,
sympathizing in her disillusionment.

"And I thought that chest so much more elaborate--when I chose it in
France," ventured Polly, puckering her forehead.

"I'll tell you why," said Mr. Ashby. "When we see these pieces on the
other side, the glamour of the places and the stories connected with
them, actually charm us more than the objects themselves. After we secure
our desires and find we own them, we ship them home and do not see them
again until they reach prosaic and business-like New York.

"Meantime, we enhance the beauty and romance of the objects we purchased,
by thinking of them in connection with the romance of their past; thus
idealizing them in mental pictures, they appear far finer and more
alluring than in truth they are.

"When we really view them again, just as you are now doing, the shock of
finding them just simple antiq