evenings,' in which we will do all sorts of nice things; sometimes
literary, sometimes musical, and sometimes--well, anything that we
please. What do you say, gentlemen; shall we organize? Mr. Ried, will
you give Monday evenings to us? Gracie, you are my guest, and cannot,
of course, refuse."

It was a novel idea, certainly. Even Alfred, while trying to heartily
second her, was in doubt as to what she could hope to accomplish by it.
As for the boys, not one of them promised to attend; but neither did
they refuse. Mrs. Roberts presently left the subject, seeming to
consider her point carried, and proposed a visit to the conservatory.

I think it very doubtful whether the boy lives who does not like
flowers. There are those who seem to consider it a mark of manliness to
affect indifference to them; but these, as they grow older--become real
men--generally lay this bit of folly aside. Then there are those, plenty
of them, who really do not know that they care for flowers. The boys,
ushered for the first time in their lives into the full bloom of a
conservatory, were, most of them, of this latter stamp.

What a scene of beauty it was! Great white callas, bending their
graceful cups; great red and yellow roses, making the air rich with
their breath; vines and mosses and ferns and small flowers in almost
endless variety. Alfred and Gracie moved among the glories; the latter
exhausting all her superlatives in honest delight, although she had
visited the spot a dozen times that day; and Alfred, who had been less
favored, was hardly less eager and responsive than she. But Mrs. Roberts
watched the boys.

It was all very well for those two to enjoy her flowers; of course they