"Tse! Tse! Tse!" It was an approving cluck, and it had a peculiar
effect upon the girl. Allegheny's tears started, she turned
suddenly and hid her face in her hands.

Gray crossed quickly to her side, saying: "There! We've overdone
it the first day, and you're tired."

"I _ain't_ tired." His sympathy brought audible sobs; the girl's
shoulders began to heave.

"Well, _I_ am," the mother complained. "I'm wore to the bone.
Allie! You dry up an' stop that snivelin' so we kin go home and I
kin let my feet swell, an' scream."

"You're not too tired, I hope, to have dinner with Allie and me in
the big dining room at the Ajax?" Gray said, gayly. "You'll be
all right after an hour's rest, and--'I want to show her off, if
her nose isn't too red."

"I 'ain't seen that girl cry in ten years," Ma declared, in
mingled wonderment and irritation. "Why, she didn't cry when
Number One blowed in."

Allie spoke between her sobs. "There wasn't nothin' to cry for,
then. But--Miss Good said I--I'd look jest as purty as other folks
when I got fixed up. An' _he_ says--I do."

Gray decided that all women are vain. Nevertheless, it surprised
him to discover the trait so early in Allegheny Briskow.