Mrs.
Ranger asked them to live with her; but Adelaide shrank from putting herself in a position where her mother and Arthur could, and her sister-in-law undoubtedly would, "know too much about our private affairs." Mrs.Ranger did not insist.

She would not admit it to herself, but, while she worshiped Del and thought her even more beautiful than she was, and just about perfection in every way, still Madelene was more satisfactory for daily companionship.

Also, Ellen doubted whether two such positive natures as Madelene's and Adelaide's would be harmonious under the same roof.

"What's more," she reflected, "there may be a baby--babies." Within a fortnight of Del's return, and before she and Dory had got quite used to each other again, she fixed on an abode.

"Mrs.Dorsey was here this afternoon," said she, with enthusiasm which, to Dory's acute perceptions, seemed slightly exaggerated, in fact, forced, "and offered us her house for a year, just to have somebody in it whom she could trust to look after things.