had acquired the habit of careful
pressing and brushing and combing; his lean face had a certain
distinction, and he was unfailingly courteous and well-mannered.

"This will be tough on mama," she observed casually.

"Pray, be more explicit!"

"Oh, Aunt Sally having Sylvia up there at the lake again."

"Why shouldn't she have her there if she wants her? I thought your
mother admired Sylvia. I gathered that ray of light somewhere, from you
or Mrs. Owen."

"Oh, mama was beautiful to her; but I shall always think, just between
you and me and that spoon, that it was Aunt Sally asking Sylvia to the
lake that time that gave mama nervous prostration."

"Nonsense! I advise you, as an old friend, not to say such things: you'd
better not even think them."

"Well, it was after that, when she saw that Aunt Sally had taken up
Sylvia, that mama got that bug about having me go to college. She got
the notion that it was Sylvia's intellectual gifts that interested Aunt
Sally; and mama thought I'd better improve my mind and get into the
competition."

"You thought your mother was jealous? I call that very unkind; it's not
the way to speak of your mother."

"Well, if you want to be nasty and lecture me, go ahead, Mr. Harwood.
You must like Sylvia pretty well yourself; you took her back to college
once and had no end of a lark,--I got that from Aunt Sally, so you
needn't deny it."

"Humph! Of course I like Sylvia; any one's bound to."

"But if Aunt Sally leaves her all her money, just because she's so
bright, and educated, and cuts me off, then what would be the answer?"

"I shouldn't have anything to say about it; it would be Mrs. Owen that
did the saying," laughed Dan. "Why didn't you meet the competition and
go to college? You have brains, but you don't seem interested in
anything but keeping amused."

"I suppose," she answered petulantly, "it would please you to see me go
to teaching a kindergarten or something like that. Not for Marian! I'm
going to see life--" and she added ruefully--"if I get the chance! Why
doesn't papa leave Fraserville and come to the city? They say he can
have any political office he wants, and he ought to run for governor or
something like that, just on my account."

"I dare say he's just waiting for you to suggest it. Why not the
presidency? You could get a lot of fun out of the White House, ordering
the army around, and using the battleships to play with. The
governorship and trifles like th