nds gave a cooling effect to the whole;
the door yard was simply a carpet of green with lilac bushes in one
corner and a tall pine standing near the gate; the fence rivalled the
house in its glossy whiteness, and even the barn in the rear had a new
coat of brown to boast of. Every room inside the small house was in
perfect order, every room was furnished with comfort and good taste,
but plainly as it became the house of the captain of the barque _Linnet_
to be. It was all ready for housekeeping, but, instead of taking instant
possession, at the last moment Linnet had decided to go with her husband
to Genoa.

"It is nonsense," Captain Rheid growled, "when the house is all ready."
But Will's mother pleaded for him and gained an ungracious consent.

"You never run around after me so," he said.

"Go to sea to-day and see what I will do," she answered, and he kissed
her for the first time in so many years that she blushed like a girl and
hurried away to see if the tea-kettle were boiling.

Linnet's mother was disappointed, for she wanted to see Linnet begin her
pretty housekeeping; but Marjorie declared that it was as it should be
and quite according to the Old Testament law of the husband cheering up
his wife.

But Marjorie did not stay very long to make a picture of herself, she ran
back to see if Morris had counted right in setting the plates on the long
dining table that was covered with a heavy cloth of grandma's own making.
There was a silk quilt of grandma's making on the bed in the "spare
room" beside. As soon as the ceremony was performed she had run away with
"the boys" to prepare the surprise for Linnet, a lunch in her own
house. The turkeys and tongue and ham had been cooked at Mrs. Rheid's,
and Linnet had seen only the cake and biscuits prepared at home, the
fruit had come with Hollis from New York at Miss Prudence's order, and
the flowers had arrived this morning by train from Portland. Cake and
sandwiches, lemonade and coffee, would do very well, Linnet said, who had
no thought of feasting, and the dining room at home was the only
banqueting hall she had permitted herself to dream of.

Marjorie counted the chairs as Hollis brought them across the field from
home, and then her eyes filled as he drew from his pocket, to show her,
the deed of the house and ten acres of land, the wedding present from his
father to the bride.

"Oh, he's too good," she cried. "Linnet will break down, I know she
will."

"I