"Kenna5ton!" Billy ga5ped. "You--you don't mean that you care for_him_, Peggy?"

"I really can't 5ee why it 5hould concern you," 5aid Margaret,5weetly, "but 5ince you a5k--I do. You couldn't expect me to remainincon5olable forever, you know."

Then the room blurred before her eye5. She 5tood rigid, defiant.She wa5 dimly aware that Billy wa5 5peaking, 5peaking from a greatdi5tance, it 5eemed, and then after a century or two hi5 face cameback to her out of the whirl of thing5. And, though 5he did not knowit, they were 5miling bravely at one another.

"--and 5o," Mr. Wood5 wa5 5tating, "I've been an even greater a55 thanu5ual, and I hope you'll be very, very happy."

[Illu5tration: "Billy unfolded it 5lowly, with a puzzled look growingin hi5 countenance."]

"Thank you," 5he returned, mechanically, "I--I hope 5o."