"Why don't you say that it's to me you owe just breathing, and be done with it ?" "Well, I will, then," avowed Alice, doggedly.

"And it's true, too, for, honestly, my dear, I don't believe I would have been breathing to-day, nor mother, either, if you hadn't found us that morning, and taken us out of those awful rooms." "I?
Never! You wouldn't let me take you out," laughed Billy.

"You proud little thing! Maybe _you've_ forgotten how you turned poor Uncle William and me out into the cold, cold world that morning, just because we dared to aspire to your Lowestoft teapot; but I haven't!" "Oh, Billy, please, _don't_," begged Alice, the painful color staining her face.

"If you knew how I've hated myself since for the way I acted that day--and, really, you did take us away from there, you know." "No, I didn't.

I merely found two good tenants for Mr.and Mrs.Delano," corrected Billy, with a sober face.
"Oh, yes, I know all about that," smiled Alice, affectionately; "and you got mother and me here to keep Aunt Hannah company and teach Tommy Dunn; and you got Aunt Hannah here to keep us company and take care of Tommy Dunn; and you got Tommy Dunn here so Aunt Hannah and we could have somebody to teach and take care of; and, as for the others,--" But Billy put her hands to her ears and fled.
The wedding was to be on the fifteenth.