achieved every man's desire; he had found the perfect mate; she who
would never soil, nor age, nor weep, nor wound; the jewel-girl.




CHAPTER V

HOUSEKEEPING


Marie had not thought of money in relation to herself and Osborn. He
was known, in the set among which they both moved, and had met and
loved and married, as a promising young fellow doing very well indeed,
in a steady fashion, for his age. He had a salary, when they set up
housekeeping in No. 30, of two hundred a year, with a very good rise
indeed, a 25 per cent, rise, at the end of every five years. And he
earned this and that now and again in odd channels, vaguely dubbed
commission, or expenses. So, as a bachelor, Osborn could be almost
splendid in their set, and as a husband he was resolved to be
conscientious and careful. He had decided to give up his inexpensive
club, and presently he meant to go into the matter of conscience and
care, to give it a figure, but not so soon after the honeymoon as
Marie drew him into it. It was all very comfortable saying to oneself:
"I must make some arrangement; all in good time," but the making of it
left one a little cold, a little surprised, inclined to thought.

When the Kerrs had been housekeeping for a week, the butcher and baker
and the rest of the clan each dropped through the letter-slit in the
front door of No. 30 a very clean, spruce, new book, and the young