Without allowing it to come to an issue between them, she kept the question open for endless discussion; and Mr.Bell lived on in great contentment under the impression that he was about to move at almost any time.

To his friends and cronies he dilated with pride on his daughter's wonderful achievements.
"She's as good as a boy!" he would declare.

"Women nowadays seem to do anything they want to!" And he rigidly paid his board bill with a flourish.
Meanwhile the impressive gatherings at Mrs.Thaddler's, and the humbler tea and card parties of Diantha's friends, had a new topic as a shuttlecock.
A New York company had bought one of the largest and finest blocks in town--the old Para place--and was developing it in a manner hitherto unseen.

The big, shabby, neglected estate began to turn into such a fairyland as only southern lands can know.

The old live-oaks were untouched; the towering eucalyptus trees remained in ragged majesty; but an army of workmen was busy under guidance of a master of beauty.
One large and lovely building rose, promptly dubbed a hotel by the unwilling neighbors; others, smaller, showed here and there among the trees; and then a rose-gray wall of concrete ran around the whole, high, tantalizing, with green boughs and sweet odors coming over it.