Christine dreaded her authority on other points, but Mela said she knew she would not interfere, and she undertook to get round her.
Mrs.Mandel pronounced the spelling bad, and the taste worse; she forbade them to send the letter; and Mela failed to get round her, though she threatened, if Mrs.Mandel would not tell her how to spell the wrong words, that she would send the letter as it was; then Mrs.
Mandel said that if Mr.Beaton appeared in Saratoga she would instantly take them both home.

When Mela reported this result, Christine accused her of having mismanaged the whole business; she quarrelled with her, and they called each other names.

Christine declared that she would not stay in Saratoga, and that if Mrs.Mandel did not go back to New York with her she should go alone.

They returned the first week in September; but by that time Beaton had gone to see his people in Syracuse.
Conrad Dryfoos remained at home with his mother after his father went West.

He had already taken such a vacation as he had been willing to allow himself, and had spent it on a charity farm near the city, where the fathers with whom he worked among the poor on the East Side in the winter had sent some of their wards for the summer.