"Then her tea-room and gift shop is a success?"

"A success! Oh, my dear! It's a scream of a success! Almost any day in
summer there are at least a dozen motor cars outside the door. Everybody
goes there; it's the proper thing to do. I know all this because it
isn't very far from our summer home in Clayton--in the mountains, you
know."

"So she made a success," mused Mary. "Were there other tea-rooms about?"

"Oh, dozens! But they're not original; hers is. They haven't the--the
something--you know what I mean, Esther has the style, the knack, the--I
can't say it, but you know. And you would have it, too; I'm perfectly
sure you would."

Mary was evidently much interested.

"I wish I might meet your cousin," she said.

"Why, you can. She is here in Boston now, buying for the summer. I'll
phone her and we three will lunch together tomorrow. Don't say you
won't; you've just got to."

So Mary, rather reluctantly, consented to make one of the luncheon
party. Afterward she was glad that she did, for Miss Esther
Hemingway--this was the cousin's name--was an interesting person. She
told Mary all about her tea-room and gift shop, how she started in
business, the mistakes she made at first, and the lessons she had
learned from experience. Because Barbara had asked her to do so she
brought with her photographs of the establishment, its attractive and