and they admired the worst. There were women's faces at
many of the handsome windows, and once in a while a young
man on the pavement caught his hat suddenly from his head,
and bowed in response to some salutation from within.

"I don't think our girls would look very bad behind
one of those big panes," said the Colonel.

"No," said his wife dreamily.

"Where's the YOUNG man? Did he come with them?"

"No; he was to spend the winter with a friend of his that
has a ranch in Texas. I guess he's got to do something."

"Yes; gentlemaning as a profession has got to play out
in a generation or two."

Neither of them spoke of the lot, though Lapham knew
perfectly well what his wife had come with him for,
and she was aware that he knew it. The time came when he
brought the mare down to a walk, and then slowed up almost
to a stop, while they both turned their heads to the right
and looked at the vacant lot, through which showed the frozen
stretch of the Back Bay, a section of the Long Bridge,
and the roofs and smoke-stacks of Charlestown.

"Yes, it's sightly," said Mrs. Lapham, lifting her hand
from the reins, on which she had unconsciously laid it.