ut my windfall?"

"I hadn't heard, but I'm glad there was a windfall."

Miss Martha scrutinized the speaker's countenance approvingly. "He's
about as pleasant-looking a man as I ever laid eyes on," she thought.

"It isn't exactly a windfall, because it's only my own come back to me;
but it's money I never expected to see again, and if Cal--if Judge
Trent wasn't a good deal smarter than the average I never should have,
either."

"Not many people can get ahead of him," returned Dunham.

"I guess not," said Miss Lacey, and she bridled proudly in a manner not
lost upon her neighbor. "So I just said to myself this morning, 'What's
the use of always being so careful?' Said I, 'I believe I'll see for
once how it feels to go to Boston like a nabob.'"

Dunham smiled and nodded, perceiving that Miss Martha felt that her
extravagance must be explained even if it could not be justified.

The extra alertness of her look suffered a slight cloud as she
continued: "One thing that made me feel reckless was that affairs are
taking a turn that may make me be more careful and more economical than
I ever was before, and I just thought before I found out I'd have one
good time!"

As she finished, the defiant expression returned, and she cast a glance
at her companion which seemed to challenge his disapproval. "I notice
you don't--I notice lots of folks don't mind the extravagance."

"Ah, but Judge Trent pays my expenses, you see."

Miss Lacey drew herself up under the smiling regard. "He came very near
paying mine," was her unspoken thought, and she would have been
astonished to know how close her companion came to reading it.

"Of course that makes a difference," she returned, and she regarded her
neighbor curiously, wishing she knew just what his business arrangement
was with the judge.

"And I would have known, too, if I'd married him," she thought.

Dunham had been handling a magazine, watching for the moment when he
could open it; but gaining more and more the impression that Miss Lacey
felt his companionship to be a perquisite which rendered more
reasonable the price of her chair, he dropped the periodical in his
lap.

"Well, for my part, Miss Lacey," he said, leaning his head back
definitely, "I think some well-distributed extravagance isn't so
disreputable."

"Perhaps not," she returned, "but if you were a lone spinster without a
bank account you might have your doubtful moments."

There was a hint of childlike ex