n did you know about that Fisher man?"

"The day you got your aunt's letter." David flushed as though he had
done something shameful.

Her eyes filled with tears. "And you kept it from me so my visit
wouldn't be spoiled, and stayed here worrying by yourself while I was
out there having a good time. Oh, David-- Oh, David! Well," she got
to her feet and stood upright before him, "I'll tell you this much.
Let the old panic come on--I'm not afraid. We'll make out somehow.
And we won't worry either. What if we do have to give up things? We
have each other--and Davy Junior--and nothing else counts."

They repeated in chorus. "We have each other and Davy Junior and
nothing else counts."

They were very happy just then and so it was easy to be brave.

CHAPTER III

ON THE SANDS

In a few months the first stress of the panic lifted. The worry
creases between men's eyes were being ironed out. A few who had money,
taking advantage of cheap labor and materials, began to build. Dick
Holden came home, with a trunkful of presents for his friends and
another of English clothes for himself, and at once became busy.

The Quentins were still hanging on--"by a frog's hair," David said.
But they had paid. It always costs to survive.

They had paid, despite their brave words, in the coin of worry. More
than once David had jingled a few coins in his pocket, wondering where
he could add to them on the morrow and when he had borrowed how he
could repay.

But they had paid with a bigger price than that. The pretty flower of
romance was withering in the shade. The cozy little times, when one
chair did for both and they became beautifully silly, were fewer and
briefer now. When they tucked Davy Junior in at night and whispered
that he was almost too bright to be healthy, shadowing their pride was
the chill cloud of fear that he, too, might have to feel the pinch.
Often they moved restlessly about the apartment or sat listlessly
yawning, wishing there were something to do. And sometimes, without
warning, quarrels would blaze, over nothing at all. It is so easy to
mislay your temper when worry is gnawing at your heart, and perhaps you
don't try very hard to find it. David always had to find his first,
but the making up was never quite perfect.

And, though their well-to-do friends were beginning to talk of new
model cars and going abroad once more, the Quentins continued to be
hard up. David seemed to have str