ll be a trifle. As to the payments, I'll do just as you say. The first
quarter will be paid to Rosie on the day you're married--when there'll
be a little check for you, for good luck. So go ahead and make your
plans. Go abroad, if you want to. Dare say it's the best thing you can
do."

To escape his brother's shamefaced thanks Thor passed into the porch.
"I'm not going to tell any one about it till I'm ready," Claude warned
as he followed.

Thor turned. "Of course you know that father's on to the whole
business."

"The deuce he is!"

"Father told me. How did you suppose I knew anything about it?"

"So that's it! Been wondering all day who could have given me away.
That's Uncle Sim's tricks. Knew the old fool had his eye--"

"It was bound to come out somehow, you know, in a little village like
this. Natural enough that Uncle Sim should want to put father wise to a
matter that concerns the whole family. I thought I'd tell you so that
you can take your line."

"Take what line?"

"How do I know? That's up to you. The line that will best protect Rosie,
I suppose. Remember that that's your first consideration now. I only
want you to understand that you can't keep father in the dark. I should
say it was more dignified, and perhaps better policy, not to try."

* * * * *

An hour later Mrs. Masterman was commenting at the dinner-table on the
pleasing circumstance that invitations to Miss Elsie Darling's party had
come for the entire family. There were cards not only for the two young
men, but for the father and mother also. Since both the older and the
younger members of society were included, it was clear that the function
was to pass the limitations of a dance and become a ball.

Neither Mr. nor Mrs. Masterman was superior to this form of
entertainment. It was the one above all others that reminded them that
they belonged to society in the higher sense. They dined out with
tolerable frequency; with tolerable frequency their friends dined with
them. As for the afternoon teas to which they were bidden in the course
of a season, Mrs. Masterman could scarcely keep count of them. But balls
came only once or twice in a winter, and not always so often as that. A
ball was a community event. It was an occasion on which to display the
fact that the neighborhood could unite in a gathering more socially
significant than the mere frolicking of boys and girls. Moreover, it was
an opportunity for