Chapter Seven


I never was so sorry for anybody in my whole life as I was for
Blakely; I would have done anything to have saved him the bitterness
and humiliation of that moment. As for Dad, he couldn't understand
it at all. That Blakely's mother should refuse to meet his Elizabeth
was quite beyond his comprehension.

"This is very strange," he said, "very strange. There must be some
mistake. Why shouldn't she meet Elizabeth?"

"There is no reason in the world," Blakely answered.

"Then why--?"

"She probably has other plans for her son, Daddy dear," I said. "And
no doubt she has heard that we're fearfully vulgar."

"Well, we ain't," said Dad in a relieved voice; "and as for those
plans of hers, I reckon she'll have to outgrow them. Buck up, my
boy! One look at Elizabeth will show her she's mistaken"

"You don't know my mother," Blakely replied; "I feel that I haven't
known her till now. It's out of the question, our staying here after
what has happened. Let's go up to Del Monte, and let's not wait four
months for the wedding. Why can't we be married this week? I'm done
with my mother and with the whole tribe of Porters; they're not my
kind, and you and Elizabeth are."