Miss Lou entered the rear door of the long, two-story house,
surrounded on three sides by a wide piazza. Mr. Baron, a stout,
bald-headed old gentleman, was fuming up and down the dining-room
while his wife sat in grim silence at the foot of the table. It was
evident that they had made stiff, old-fashioned toilets, and both
looked askance at the flushed face of the almost breathless girl,
still in her simple morning costume. Before she could speak her
uncle said, severely, "Since we have waited so long, we will still
wait till you can dress."

The girl was glad to escape to her room in order that she might have
time to frame some excuse before she faced the inquisition in store
for her.

Constitutional traits often assert themselves in a manner contrary
to the prevailing characteristics of a region. Instead of the easy-
going habits of life common to so many of his neighbors, Mr. Baron
was a martinet by nature, and the absence of large, engrossing
duties permitted his mind to dwell on little things and to
exaggerate them out of all proportion. Indeed, it was this utter
lack of perspective in his views and judgments which created for
Miss Lou half her trouble. The sin of tardiness which she had just
committed was treated like a great moral transgression, or rather it
was so frowned upon that it were hard to say he could show his
displeasure at a more heinous offence. The one thought now in Mr.
Baron's mind was that the sacred routine of the day had been broken.
Often there are no greater devotees to routine than those who are
virtually idlers. Endowed with the gift of persistence rather than
with a resolute will, it had become second nature to maintain the