e only way she could
leave you any of--"

"Your father's money," I nodded. "Not until after her death did I
understand why she used to take all of your father's gifts in
jewelry. I know now."

"It was a good investment. I wish she'd bought twice as much. She
had so little else to leave you," Kitty was looking at me
speculatively. "How on earth are you going to live on a thousand
dollars a year? Our servants cost us twice that. Billy says it's
awful, but--"

"It is if you can't afford it. You can. I believe all people ought
to spend every dollar they can afford, and not a cent they can't.
That's what I do. Aunt Matilda thought I was impractical, but I'm
fearfully prudent. I live within my income and I've deposited with a
trust company, so I can't spend it, a sum of money quite large enough
to care for me through a spell of illness in the greediest of
hospitals, if I should be ill. And if I should die I'm prepared for
all expenses. It's a mistake to think I don't look ahead. I thought
once of having a stone put up in the cemetery so as to be sure I had
not forgotten anything, but I guess that can wait."

Kitty, still staring at me, got up. "I never expect to understand
you. Neither does father. He's mortified to death about your coming
down here to live. He knows people are talking; so do I; and we
don't know what to say."

"Oh, people always talk! And don't say anything. No one escapes
criticism. It's human pastime to indulge in it. To prefer
Scarborough Square to the Avenue may be queer, but at present I do
prefer it. That's why I'm here. You can say that if you choose."

"You've got no business preferring it." Kitty snapped the buttons of
her glove with tearful emphasis. "Mrs. Jamieson said last night that
a person with eyes and eyelashes like yours had no right to live as
you are living, with just an old woman to do things for you. She
came down to see why you were here, but you wouldn't tell her. She
can't understand any more than I can."

I kissed Kitty good-by, but I did not try to make her understand. I
no longer try to make people understand things. Many of them can't.
Kitty is a dear child, adorably blue-eyed and pink-cheeked, and
possessed of an amount of worldly wisdom that is always amazing and
at times distressing, but much that interests me has, so far, never
interested her. Refusing to study, she has little education, but she
has traveled a good deal, speaks excelle