't know much about the cost of things,
in spite of the fact that you run a farm. We always had an extra man for
you--"

"I could well have dispensed with the dissipated fad-ridden specimens
you produced for my entertainment. I did not meet a sober man during the
entire fortnight. What is the amount of your indebtedness? I will pay
half, but no more."

She knew that it would be wiser to demand the bills and herself pay
something on account to the desperate creditors, but she revolted from
playing the mentor to that extent. When Paula, after a frowning bout
with a pencil and a sheet of paper, announced the sum that would tide
them over, Isabel was quite aware that she was facing the entire amount.
However, she wrote a check, merely extracting a facile promise that it
should be devoted to its legitimate purpose, and not to champagne or
frills.

"I will also send you down one or two tailor suits I have little use
for," she added. "Things are so cheap in Europe that I was often
betrayed into buying more than I wanted. They can easily be altered."

"Thanks!" said Paula. "I am not the style for tailor-made things, but
goodness knows I am glad enough to get anything."

Isabel glanced doubtfully at the slippers. "I have so many boots. They
are rather an extravagance with me--but I am afraid my foot is longer
than yours."

"Yes," said Paula, complacently, as she threaded a darning-needle. "My
foot is quite _fearfully_ small."

Isabel, who knew her foot to be far more slender and elegant than the
plebeian member that never dared expose itself beyond the instep, nearly
overflowed with feminine wrath; but she swallowed it, and remarked in a
moment:

"I had quite forgotten why I tried to telephone. Mr. Gwynne came down
with me and I should like to show him about a bit. Of course I cannot do
it alone; what is more, I want him to stay in my house. Nothing could
exceed his hospitality to me in England, and I should hate the idea of
sending him to a hotel when I have a house with eight bedrooms. Couldn't
you and Lyster come up and stay for a couple of days? And if Lyster will
show Mr. Gwynne the town, as indeed he has suggested more than once, it
must be understood that the expense is mine."

"Lyster would never permit it," said Paula, grandly. "You know what he
is--he even lends more than he borrows; that is one reason why we are
always so hard up. He is simply dying to show Mr. Gwynne about. And that
means that he'll spend