ully sweet and nice," Jim
proceeded, "is coming into town this afternoon, and she wonders if it
would be too much trouble for Mrs. Fairfax to come in and lunch with
her and help her with some shopping."

"Jim, it doesn't say that!" But Susanna's eyes were kindling with joy
at the thought. "Oh, Jim, what a chance! Doesn't that look as if he
really liked you!"

"Liked YOU, you mean," Jim said, giving her the letter. "Now I call
that a very friendly, decent thing for them to do," young Mr. Fairfax
went on musingly. "If you and she like each other, Sue--"

"Oh, don't worry, we will!" Mrs. Fairfax was always sure of her touch
upon a feminine heart.

"Wonder why he didn't think of Mrs. Reid or Mrs. Polk?" said Jim.

"Oh, Jim, they are sort of--stiff, don't you know?" Susanna returned to
her coffee, seasoning Jim's cup carefully before she added, with a look
of naive pleasure that Jim thought very charming: "You know I rather
THOUGHT that Mr. Thayer liked me just that one day I saw him!"

"Well, you'll like her," Jim prophesied. "She's very sweet and gentle,
not very strong. They live right up the line there somewhere. She
rarely comes into town. Old Thayer is devoted to her, and he always
seems--" Jim hesitated. "I don't know," he went on, "I may be all wrong
about this, Sue, but Thayer always seems to be protecting her, don't
you know? I don't imagine he'd want to run her up against society women
like Jane Reid and Mrs. Polk. You're younger and less affected; you're
approachable. I don't know, but it seems to me that way. Anyway," he
finished with supreme satisfaction, "I wouldn't take anything in the
world for this chance! It shows the old man is really in earnest."

"He says she'll be at the office at eleven," said Susanna. "That means
I must get the ten twenty-two."

"Sure. And take a taxi when you get to town. Got money? Got the right
clothes?"

"Hydrangea hat," Susanna decided aloud. "New pongee, and pongee coat
hung in careless elegance over my arm. As the last chime of eleven
rings I will step into your office--"

"I hope to goodness you will!" said Jim, with an anxious look. "You'll
really get there, won't you, Sue? No slips?"

This might have seemed overemphatic to an unprejudiced outsider. But no
one who really knew Susanna would have blamed her young husband for an
utter disbelief in the likelihood of her getting anywhere at any given
time. Susanna's one glaring fault was a cheerful indifference to th