"Dad," she said eagerly, taking her place at the supper table,
"what do you think! I'll bet you a dollar that man is falling in
love with our Cherry!"

Anne, at the head of the table, looked pained, but there was
genuine apprehension in the doctor's face.

"Where is your sister?" he asked.

"Down there by the gate," Alix answered. "They're gazing soulfully
into each other's eyes, and all that! Peter went home. But CHERRY-
-with a beau! Isn't that the ultimate extension of the limit! I'm
crazy about it--I think it's great. An engineer, Dad, and Mrs.
North's nephew, and he has a fine job in a mine somewhere," she
summarized enthusiastically, "you couldn't ask anything better
than that, could you? Could you, Dad? I love weddings! This'll be
the third I've been to!"

"All this seems to have come up very suddenly," the doctor said,
dazedly, rumpling his gray hair with a fine old hand. "I don't
imagine your sister is taking it as seriously as you and Anne seem
inclined to---"

"Oh, does Anne think so!" Alix exclaimed.

"I think Cherry is one of the fortunate girls destined to drift
along the surface of life," Anne said, "and to accept wifehood
quite simply. I only wish I were that type--"

"Oh, Nancy, what rot you talk every time you remember you had a