dding tears.'"

The two men exchanged laughing glances of understanding. Lydia frowned.
"That is hateful--and horrid--and a _lie_!" she cried energetically,
finding that they paid no attention to her protest.

"_I_ didn't invent it," Paul exonerated himself lightly.

"But you laughed at it--you think it's so--you--" She was trembling in a
sudden resentment at once inexplicable and amusing to the other two.

"Highty-tighty! you little spitfire!" cried her father, laughing. "I see
_your_ finish, my boy!"

"Good gracious, Lydia, how you do fly at a man! I take it back. I take
it back." Paul looked admiringly at his pretty sweetheart's flashing
eyes and crimson cheeks as he spoke.

She turned away and picked up her cloak without speaking.

"To tell the truth," said Paul, going on with the conversation as though
it had not been interrupted, and addressing his father-in-law-to-be,
"every penny I can rake and scrape is going into the house. Lydia's
such a sensible little thing I knew she'd think it better to have
something permanent than an ocean of orchids and candy now. Besides,
such a belle as she is gets them from everybody else."

Mrs. Emery often pointed out to Lydia's inexperience that it was rare to
see a man so magnanimously free from jealousy as her fiance.

"The architect and I were going over it to-day," the young electrician
went on, "and I decided, seeing this new contract means such a lot, that
I would have the panels in the hall carved, after all--of course if you
agree," he turned to Lydia, but went on without waiting for an answer.
"The effect will be much handsomer--will go with the rest of the house
better."

"They'd be lots harder to dust," said Lydia dubiously, putting a
spangled web of gold over her hair. The contrast between her aspect and
the dingy suggestions of her speech made both men laugh tenderly. "When
Titania takes to being practical--" laughed Paul.

Lydia went on seriously. "Honestly, Paul, I'm afraid the house is
getting too handsome, anyhow--everything in it. It's too expensive,
I'm--"

"Nothing's too good for you." Paul said this with conviction. "And
besides, it's an asset. The mortgage won't be so very large. And if
we're in it, we'll just have to live up to it. It'll be a stimulus."

"I hope it doesn't stimulate us into our graves," said Lydia, as she
kissed her father good-night.

"Well, your families aren't paupers on either side," said Paul.

A casual remark like th