dollars! That's going some for curtains, isn't it?"

"It's not too much for that sort of thing."

"But, look here, Natalie," he expostulated. "This is to be a country
house, isn't it? I thought you wanted chintzed and homey things.
This looks like a city house in the country."

He glanced down at the total. The hangings alone, with a tapestry
or two, were to be thirty-five thousand dollars. He whistled.

"Hangings alone! And - what sort of a house has Rodney planned,
anyhow?"

"Italian, with a sunken garden. The landscape estimates are there,
too."

He did not look at them.

"It seems to me you and Rodney have been pretty busy while I've been
away," he remarked. "Well, I want you to be happy, my dear. Only
- I don't want to tie up a fortune just now. We may get into this
war, and if we do - " He rose, and yawned, his arms above his head.
"I'm off to bed," he said. "Big day to-morrow. I'll want Graham at
the office at 8:30."

She had sat up in bed, and was staring at him. Her face was pale.

"Do you mean that we are going to get into this war?"