. We professors of the younger set are all in the same
boat. We'd all have to go into debt under like circumstances."

Elice Gleason meditated.

"But Harry's been a full professor now a long time," she commented; "two
years longer than you."

"And what difference does that make? He just lives on his salary."

"Is that so? I never thought of it that way. I don't think I ever
considered the financial side before at all."

Armstrong looked his approval.

"I dare say not, Elice; and I for one am mighty glad you didn't. Life is
cheap enough at best without adding to its cheapness unnecessarily."

The girl seemed scarcely to hear him, missing the argument entirely.

"I suppose, though," she commented reflectively, "when one does think of
it, that it'll be rather hard on Margery to scrimp. She's always had
everything she wants and isn't used to economizing."

Armstrong sat a moment in thought. He gave his habitual shrug.

"She should have thought of that before the minister came," he dismissed
with finality. "It's a trifle late now."

"They've been putting it off for a long time, though," justified the
girl, "and probably she thought--one has to cease delaying some time."

"Elice! Elice!" Armstrong laughed banteringly. "I believe you've got the
June bug fluttering in your bonnet too. It's contagious this time of
year, isn't it?"

"Shame on you, Steve!" The voice was dripping with reproach. "You always
will be personal. You know I didn't mean it that way."

"Not a bit, honest now?"

"I say you ought to be ashamed to make fun of me that way."

"But honest--"

"Well," reluctantly, "maybe I did just a bit. We too have been engaged
quite a while."

"Almost as long as the Randalls."

"Yes."

The quizzical look left Armstrong's eyes, but he said nothing.

"And I suppose every woman wants a home of her own. It's an instinct. I
think I understand Margery."

From out the porch of the Gleason cottage, shaded from the curious by its
climbing rose-vines, the girl looked forth at the sputtering electric
globe on the corner.

"And, besides, people get to talking and smiling and making it unpleasant
for a girl after so long. It was so with Margery. I know, although she
never told me. It bothered her."

"You say after so long, Elice. How long?"

"I didn't mean any particular length of time, Steve. There isn't any rule
by which you can measure gossip, so far as I know."

"Approximately, then."

"Oh, after a ye