Jewel Weed

"Oh, Dick, to think of that kind of a life coming to me!"

"It ought to have come to you long ago. It was bound to come, because it

belongs to you. But things being as they are, you must give yourself

into my keeping as soon as possible, sweetheart. There's no reason why

we shouldn't be married at once, or nearly so, is there, dear?"

Here Lena hesitated, a little in doubt whether she ought to show maiden

reluctance, and her lover went on with his argument.

"You are so alone, dear. Don't let any foolish hesitation prolong this

bad time of yours."

"What about my mother?" demanded Lena, with a sudden descent to the

region of hard facts.

"Do you want her to live with us?" Dick asked with a gulp.

"No, I don't!" Lena answered so sharply that Dick started in surprise,

and she gathered herself together.

"It would take a long time for me to explain things to you," she went on

in gentler accents. "But, Dick, mother and I are not very happy

together. I'll tell you all about it some time. Perhaps she would be

just as contented to live somewhere else."

"Very well," said Dick with a sense of relief. "We must make her

comfortable, of course." In reality nobody else's comfort made a rap's

difference just then. "I dare say we can find some jolly little

apartment and somebody to take care of her."

"Hire somebody for her to find fault with," said Lena, with a return of

acid. "What about your mother?"

"Oh, I couldn't let mother live anywhere but in the dear old home. It's

too big and lonely for her by herself, so we must share it with her. And

no other place would ever have the flavor of home, either to her or to

me."

Lena stopped short in her progress.

"Does the house belong to you or to her?"

"Technically to me, I believe--not that it makes the slightest

difference, dear."

"Then I should be mistress of it, not she?"

"I'm sure she'd be only too glad to turn the housekeeping cares over to

your pretty little hands," said Dick, smiling, but a little uneasily.

"She's a good deal of an invalid, you know. But there's plenty of time

to think of all these details. I suppose you've had to worry about the

little things until it's become a habit," he added in a kind of apology

to himself.

"I've been a bond-slave so long," said Lena, "that I'd like to feel

perfectly free and mistress of everything around me." She straightened

her back and squared her soft shoulders.

"So you shall be!" answered Dick happily. "Even of your husband."

"Oh, that, of course," said Lena with an enchanting pout. "Now here we

are, and it's very late. You must go. Good night."