pretending to each other, is there? You have always put me off and put
me off, but surely you mean to bring this to an end pretty soon?"

"You could bring it to an end at once if you would!" returned Mrs.
Evringham, her voice lowered. "Dr. Ballard has nothing to wait for. I
know all about his circumstances. There never was such a providence as
father's having a friend like him ready to our hand--so suitable, so
attractive, so rich!"

"Yes," responded the girl low and equably, "it is just five weeks and
two days that you have been throwing me at that man's head."

"I have done nothing of the kind, Eloise Evringham."

"Yes you have," returned the girl without excitement, "and grandfather
sneering at us all the time under his mustache. He knows that there are
other girls and other mothers interested in Dr. Ballard more desirable
than we are. Oh! how easy it is to be more desirable than we are!"

"There isn't one girl in five hundred so pretty as you," returned Mrs.
Evringham stoutly.

"I wish my prettiness could persuade you into my way of thinking."

"What do you mean?" The glance of the older woman was keen and
suspicious.

"We would take a cheap little apartment to-morrow," said the girl
wistfully.