the river to meet them, she was rested and refreshed, ready to take up
the next day's work with her usual enthusiasm.

It was late when she reached home, but her long sleep in the afternoon
made her wakeful, and she sat up till after midnight trying to compose a
satisfactory answer to Pink's letter. It was a depressing task, and she
tore up page after page, in her effort to make her refusal as kind as
possible, and yet to make him understand that it was final.

When it was finished and sealed she drew another envelope towards her,
intending to address it to Phil. Then she hesitated and pushed it aside,
saying:

"I'd better wait until I'm in a more cheerful frame of mind. If I write
now it'll be so full of slums and disappointments that it'll give him
the doldrums."

CHAPTER V

MARY AND THE "BIG OPPORTUNITY"

The cheerful frame of mind came soon, but it was nearly a month before
that letter was written. Unlike the others which preceded it, this one
was not thrust under the rubber band that held the many missives from
"The Little Vicar." It was slipped into Phil's pocket; for the package,
with all the rest of the contents of the private drawer in his desk,
reposed in the bottom of his trunk. His work in Mexico was done and he
was starting back to the States.

He had expected to buy his ticket straight through to New York, and
retrace his steps as far as Lloydsboro Valley later. Rob Moore had
written him that Lloyd was arranging for a house-party during the
Thanksgiving holidays, and that he and Alex Shelby and Mary Ware were to
be included among the guests, and for him to make his plans accordingly.

Mary's letter also mentioned this house-party. She had been invited but
could not accept. She had been too extravagant the month before, she
told him in a joking way.

"I have squandered my princely income on paltry trifles, and now must
pay the penalty. I must see the door of Paradise slam in my face and
shut me away into outer darkness. But, seriously, even if I could afford
the trip, I could not take so much time. Mrs. Blythe needs me. We are
straining every nerve to accomplish certain things before the next
session of the Legislature, when the bill for better housing is to be
brought up. Oh, I am sure that you understand, knowing how I love the
Valley and the blessed people in it, that a house-party at Oaklea, just
that alone, would be little short of heaven for me. But to meet the Best
Man there, and