to sit
with your windows open. Now, over in this part of the town it's always
quiet, and there are trees and pleasant places to go for a walk. Won't
it be bully here when spring comes! There's a robin, see him? And the
folks say the flowers in the park are great; some of the bushes will be
bright yellow, and then will come honeysuckle and no end of things."

"What are you driving at?"

"Just turn down this path, won't you? There's a little summerhouse at
the end where we can sit down and look out over the lake."

They reached the summerhouse and by a bit of good fortune found it
empty. The artificial pond was very muddy, and to two young people from
the country the set, pretty outlook was a poor substitute for the coming
spring by the woods and streams at home. But a substitute may be better
than nothing, and as with hungry eyes they viewed the brown water and
saw the sun glowing on the trunks of the bare trees, they felt refreshed
and nourished. For the first time since Hertha had met him, Richard
Brown was ready to sit quite still, looking into the treetops and beyond
to the blue sky with its floating clouds.

At length he turned and told her what he had done. It seemed an old
friend had turned up for a week in New York, and introduced him to a
southern woman who had a house at the park's edge and who took a few
boarders. She had not been especially successful with her rooms, and
partly to help her, partly because he'd hated his stupid hall bedroom
ever since he'd been sick in it, he had moved over here. It was a good
way from work, but that didn't matter. There was rapid transit, and it
didn't hurt him to stand up a few minutes night and morning. It was a
lot better than living in the noisy, ugly city that they had just left.
Mrs. Pickens, his landlady, was the nicest person to cheer a fellow up,
and care for him if he needed it. It was a pleasant house with good
board, the sort of cooking you got at home, plenty of gravy on your
meat, beaten biscuit for breakfast, and the best coffee in the city. She
had a room left to rent, looking over the park where you could see the
trees. She would enjoy to meet Miss Ogilvie, and if Hertha would go
there this afternoon, just look in and see what the house was like,
she'd be doing a favor to everybody. Of course she needn't decide now,
but wasn't it worth considering? And he was sure he had found the best
school at which she could study stenography and shorthand, only a few