with warmth. "But he ought to kick him off the place the first
chance he gets."

"Do you think Belle Plain is ever going to look as it did,
Charley?--as we remember it when we were children?" asked Betty,
giving a new direction to the conversation.

"Why, of course it is, dear, you are doing wonders!"

"I've really been ashamed of the place, the way it looked--and I
can't understand Tom!"

"Don't try to," advised Norton. "Look here, Betty, do you
remember it was right on this terrace I met you for the first
time? My mother brought me down, and I arrived with a strong
prejudice against you, young lady, because of the clothes I'd
been put into--they were fine but oppressive."

"How long did the prejudice last, Charley?"

"It didn't last at a11, I thought you altogether the nicest
little girl I'd ever seen--just what I think now, I wish you
could care for me, Betty, just a little; just enough to marry
me."

"But, Charley, I do care for you! I'm very, very fond of you."

"Well, don't make such a merit of it," he said, and they both
laughed. "I'm at an awful disadvantage, Betty, from having
proposed so often. That gives it a humorous touch which doesn't