heard that before! Tell me, Jamie, when was it?"

Jamie ruminated a moment. "It must have been before we were married."

Mrs. O'Brien nodded her head. "That just proves what I always say:
little a woman can know about a man before she marries him."

She talked on and Harry gave her every encouragement, laughing heartily
at her anecdotes, asking further details, and making himself so
generally pleasant that, before supper was half done, the opening
embarrassment was forgotten and Mrs. O'Brien was exclaiming: "Well,
Harry, I must say one thing: I feel like I'd known you forever!"

Harry glanced at Ellen. "Shall we tell them?"

Ellen drew a quick breath. "We've got to sometime," she murmured.

Harry beamed on Mrs. O'Brien. "I'm mighty glad to hear you say that,
Mrs. O'Brien. There's nothing would please me better than to have you
like me. In fact, I'm hoping you like me well enough to take me for a
son-in-law!"

Mrs. O'Brien gasped: "What's this you're saying, Harry?"

Rosie, pale and tense, stood up. "Ellen," she said, looking straight at
her sister, "have you told him about Jarge Riley?"

Ellen laughed a little unsteadily. "Yes, Rosie, I told him. And I see
now you were right. It wasn't fair to Harry not to tell him. And I want
to apologize for getting so mad."

"Yes, Rosie was right," Harry repeated, smiling at her kindly. "Rosie
must have known I was dead gone on Ellen and meant business."

Rosie was not to be taken in by any such palaver as that. "No, Mr. Long,
you're mistaken. I was only thinking about Jarge Riley. Ellen's going to
marry him in the spring."

Harry still smiled at her ingratiatingly. "She's not going to marry him
now, Rosie. She can't because, don't you see, she married me this
afternoon!"

"What!" Rosie, feeling suddenly sick and weak, crumpled down into her
chair, a nerveless little mass that gaped and blinked and waited for the
world to come to an end.

There was a pause broken at last by an hysterical laugh from Ellen.
"Don't look at me like that, Rosie! I should think you'd be glad I was
married to some one else!"

Ellen's words brought Rosie to her senses. "I am glad!" she cried. "You
never cared two straws about Jarge, anyhow! But why did you have to be
so crooked with him? When he finds out the way you've done this, it'll
just break his heart! I guess I know!"

Jamie O'Brien cleared his throat. "Rosie, you talk too much! Will you
just hold your tongue a minute while I find