possible, perhaps,
otherwise.

CHAPTER XXIII. THE CAUSE AND BERTRAM

February came The operetta, for which Billy was working so hard, was
to be given the twentieth. The Art Exhibition, for which Bertram was
preparing his four pictures, was to open the sixteenth, with a private
view for specially invited friends the evening before.

On the eleventh day of February Mrs. Greggory and her daughter arrived
at Hillside for a ten-days' visit. Not until after a great deal of
pleading and argument, however, had Billy been able to bring this about.

"But, my dears, both of you," Billy had at last said to them; "just
listen. We shall have numberless rehearsals during those last ten
days before the thing comes off. They will be at all hours, and of all
lengths. You, Miss Greggory, will have to be on hand for them all, of
course, and will have to stay all night several times, probably. You,
Mrs. Greggory, ought not to be alone down here. There is no sensible,
valid reason why you should not both come out to the house for those ten
days; and I shall feel seriously hurt and offended if you do not consent
to do it."

"But--my pupils," Alice Greggory had demurred.

"You can go in town from my home at any time to give your lessons, and
a little shifting about and arranging for those ten days will enable you
to set the hours conveniently one after another, I am sure, so you can
attend to several on one trip. Meanwhile your mother will be having a
lovely time teaching Aunt Hannah how to knit a new shawl; so you won't
have to be worrying about her."

After all, it had been the great good and pleasure which the visit would
bring to Mrs. Greggory that had been the final straw to tip the scales.
On the eleventh of February, therefore, in the company of the once
scorned "Peggy and Mary Jane," Alice Greggory and her mother had arrived
at Hillside.

Ever since the first meeting of Alice Greggory and Arkwright, Billy had
been sorely troubled by the conduct of the two young people. She had,
as she mournfully told herself, been able to make nothing of it. The two
were civility itself to each other, but very plainly they were not at
ease in each other's company; and Billy, much to her surprise, had to
admit that Arkwright did not appear to appreciate the "circumstances"
now that he had them. The pair called each other, ceremoniously, "Mr.
Arkwright," and "Miss Greggory"--but then, that, of course, did not
"signify," Billy declared t