y rosy. The corners of her once sad little
mouth turned up instead of down and developed--I looked twice--yes,
developed a dimple. The dull hair I always had seen brushed plainly
back, now was parted on one side and fluffed itself across her forehead
and about her cheeks with an astonishing effectiveness. She was attired
in a China-blue linen frock with a scarlet sash knotted in front quite
daringly, for Phillida.

"Why, Phil, how pretty we are!" I admired.

She looked up at me like a praised little girl, and smoothed the sash. I
noticed she wore above her wedding ring that "diamond" which once had
adorned Vere's finger so distastefully to me. It shone bravely in the
sunlight with quite a display of fire. Tracing my gaze, she held out her
hand for me to see.

"Yes, it was his, Cousin Roger. Of course, we have not very much money
yet, and I do not care about all the engagement rings that ever were
thought of. But, I was afraid people up here might notice that I had
none and think slightingly of Ethan. So I asked him, and we went to a
jeweler, who made it smaller to fit me. It is not a false stone, you
know. It is a white topaz, and I love it better than the biggest
diamond."

"Then you are still happy?"

"Forever and ever, world without end," she answered solemnly.

We went in.

Sun and sweet wind had worked white magic in the long-closed house.
Quaint furniture, no longer dust-grimed but lustrous with cleanliness
and polish, had quite a different air. Fresh upholstery in cheerful
tints, fresh paper on the walls, good rugs, order and daintiness
everywhere changed the interior out of my recognition. Already the
atmosphere of home and cheer was established.

"Come see your rooms," Phillida invited, enraptured by my admiration.
"They are so pretty!"

She ran up the stairs, around the passage, and ushered me into the room
of graceful adventure and grotesque nightmare. I stopped on the
threshold.

I had ordered the partition removed between the two chambers on this
side, giving me one large room. This, with the little bathroom attached,
occupied the entire large frontage of the house. This long, spacious
room; floors covered by my Chinese rugs, walls echoing the rugs'
smoke-blue, my piano in a bright corner, my special easychairs and
writing-table in their due places, welcomed me with such familiar
comfort that I could not identify the neglected chamber where I had
slept one night in the old bed with the four pi