She only wished she were as much so of Alice.
But Alice troubled her. Not but that Alice was
kindness itself to the man, either. It was only a
peculiar something almost like fear, or constraint,
that Billy thought she saw in Alice's eyes, sometimes,
when Arkwright made a particularly intimate
appeal. There was Calderwell, too. He,
also, worried Billy. She feared he was going to
complicate matters still more by falling in love
with Alice, himself; and this, certainly, Billy did
not want at all. As this phase of the matter
presented itself, indeed, Billy determined to
appropriate Calderwell a little more exclusively to
herself, when the four were together, thus leaving
Alice for Arkwright. After all, it was rather
entertaining--this playing at Cupid's assistant.
If she _could_ not have Bertram all the time, it was
fortunate that these outside interests were so
pleasurable.

Most of the mornings Billy spent in the kitchen,
despite the remonstrances of both Pete and Eliza.
Almost every meal, now, was graced with a palatable
cake, pudding, or muffin that Billy would
proudly claim as her handiwork. Pete still served
at table, and made strenuous efforts to keep up
all his old duties; but he was obviously growing
weaker, and really serious blunders were beginning
to be noticeable. Bertram even hinted once
or twice that perhaps it would be just as well to