that new suit warm?"

"Oh yes! it is interlined. I looked out for that."

"You look out for my child as if she were your own, bless you, dear,"
Harry said, affectionately.

Then Ida thought that the time for her carefully-led-up-to coup had
arrived. "I try to," said she, meekly.

"You _do_."

Ida began to speak, then she hesitated, with timid eyes on her
husband's face.

"What is it, dear?" asked he.

"Well, I have been thinking a good deal lately about Maria and her
associates in school here."

"Why, what is the matter with them?" Harry asked, uneasily.

"Oh, I don't know that there is anything very serious the matter with
them, but Maria is at an age when she is very impressible, and there
are many who are not exactly desirable. There is Gladys Mann, for
instance. I saw Maria walking down the street with her the other day.
Now, Harry, you know that Gladys Mann is not exactly the kind of girl
whom Maria's own mother would have chosen for an intimate friend for
her."