disgust, "CAN'T you stop calling
me by that outlandish name? I was christened Irene, I believe. PLEASE
remember it."

"All right, 'Re--all right, Irene; I won't forget again. Oh, there's
Mary-'Gusta, now! Showin' herself out here with all these city folks,
when she's nothin' but a hired help--a table girl, as you might say!
I shan't notice her, anyway. I may buy her tea and stuff, but I--Who's
that runnin' up to her and--and kissin' her--and--mercy on us! You'd
think they was sisters, if you didn't know. Who is it? Looks kind of
common, she does to me. Don't you think so, 'Rena--Irene, I mean?"

Irene sniffed.

"That," she said with cutting emphasis, "is Barbara Howe. Her people
are building that big summer house at Osterville and her father is a
millionaire, so they say. And her people wouldn't let her come to the
school you sent me to because they thought it wasn't good enough for
her. That's how common SHE is. I met her once, but she doesn't know
me now, although she is perfectly crazy over that Mary Lathrop. I--Oh,
there's Father drinking out of his saucer again! For heaven's sake,
let's go home!"

And just then Barbara was enthusiastically hugging her former schoolmate
and exclaiming:

"You did it! I knew you would if you would only try. I said it required
a knack or a genius or something and that I was certain you had it.
It's the dearest place of the kind I've ever seen, my dear, and if every
single person I know who is in this vicinity doesn't come here at least
once a week and spend lots and lots of money I'll never speak to them
again. I'm going to turn myself into a walking phonograph, my dear,
with just one record: 'If you love me visit the For'ard Lookout.' And of
course everyone loves me--how can they help it? So--well, just wait and
see what happens."

So far as spreading abroad the praises of the new tea-room was
concerned, she was as good as her word. In August the patronage was so
great and continuous that Mary found it necessary to hire three more
waitresses and a salesgirl for the gift shop. She spent more of her own
time there, leaving the care of the store to Shadrach, Simeon Crocker
and a new clerk, who had been hired to help with the summer custom. When
early September brought the beginning of the season's end the books
of both the Lookout and of Hamilton and Company showed a substantial
profit.

While all this was going on Zoeth was steadily gaining in health and
strength. In July he