are tell you what that dinner cost us, but we had
a cabinet member or two, and the British Ambassador.

"You wondered why I liked Dickens. Well, I read him so that I could get
a good meal by proxy. I used to gloat over the feasts at Wardle's, and
Mr. Stiggins' hot toast. And when I met you you gave me--everything.
Murray Flint thinks that because I am thin and pale I am all spirit,
and I'm afraid you have the same idea. You didn't dream, did you, that I
was pale because I hadn't had enough to eat? And when you told me that
you wanted me to be your wife I looked ahead and saw the good food and
the roaring fires, and I didn't think of anything else. I honestly
didn't think of you for a moment, Max.

"There were days, though, when you meant more to me than just that. When
we played at the Capitol--that night when we met Lafayette on the
stairs! Nobody had ever played with me. But after we went to the farm I
was smothered in ease. And I loved it. And I didn't love you. You were
just--the man who gave me things. Do you see what I mean? And when you
kissed me on the stairs it was as if I were being kissed by a nice old
Santa Claus.

"Everybody saw it but you. I am sure Amy knew--and Winifred Reed.
You--you ought to marry Winifred, Max. Perhaps you will. You won't want
me after you read this letter. And Winifred is splendid.

"It was your speech to the men that waked me. I saw how big you were,
and I just--shriveled up.

"And you mustn't worry about me. I am not hungry any more. I feel as if
I should never want anything to eat. Perhaps it is because I am older
and haven't a growing appetite. And I am not any of the things you
thought me. And of course you would be disappointed, and it wouldn't be
fair."

Having posted this, Anne had other things to do. She wrote mysterious
letters, and finally came into a room where her sisters and Aunt
Elizabeth were sewing, with an important-looking paper in her hand.

"I am going to work, Amy."

"To work!"

"Yes."

Amy and Ethel and Aunt Elizabeth wore white frocks, and looked very cool
and feminine and high-bred. Aunt Elizabeth had a nose like Amy's and the
same look of race.

It was Aunt Elizabeth who said in her commanding voice: "What are you
talking about, Anne?"

"I am going to work in the War Risk Bureau, Aunt Elizabeth. I wrote to
two senators, and they helped me."

No woman of the Merryman family had ever worked in an office.

Anne faced a storm of disapproval, b