Jennie received her aunt with cordiality, but not effusiveness. To be discourteous was something she could not be. Besides, she liked Aunt Rachel and pitied her idiosyncrasies. "Why can't she be as nice when she goes to people's houses as she is when she is at home?" she mused. "I love to go there, and everything is just perfect, but the minute she steps outside the door--well, we all know Aunt Rachel! And she doesn't go home early either. Jimmie'll be furious. She always calls him 'James' and asks after his health and--and everything. I do so want him to like her, but I'm afraid he never will. I do wish I could get her interested in something. I have it!" she exclaimed triumphantly. "The very thing!" Aunt Rachel looked up in surprise. "What's the matter, Jennie?" she inquired. "Oh, nothing much, Auntie! I was just thinking aloud." "Don't!" said Aunt Rachel. "It's a bad habit, Jennie--though I do do it myself, sometimes." "Sometimes!" Jennie turned away to hide her smile. Why, Aunt Rachel made a business of talking aloud! As luck would have it, the dinner went off to Aunt Rachel's satisfaction. It was good, but conservative. "Jennie is learning," thought the old lady to herself. "After I've been here a few times more, she'll get along all right." Aunt Rachel hadn't noticed that every idea Jennie has used was, strictly, either Jennie's own or her mother's. "How long does your aunt expect to stay?" asked Jimmie, casually, while Jennie was clearing the table. Aunt Rachel was in the kitchen. She prided herself on never being "a burden on any one." Doubtless, some of her friends would have preferred that she be. Most of us have a skeleton we do not wish to keep on exhibition. "Oh, I don't know, maybe a week or two," said Jennie, mischievously. "She hasn't told me yet." "Oh!" replied Jimmie, in a disappointed voice. "Business down town"? "Dinner at the Club"? No, he couldn't keep that up indefinitely. Besides, what did a man want of a home, if he wasn't going to live in it? Covertly, Jennie watched him. She knew every expression of his face. It amused her, but she was sorry, too. "Jimmie wants awfully to flunk--and dassent," was her mental comment. "Anything on for this evening, Jimmie?" inquired Jennie, sweetly, too sweetly, Jimmie thought. He had heard those dulcet tones before. "Yes--no!" stammered Jimmie. How he wished he had! However, as Jennie said no more, he dismissed the subject from his mind. She probably didn't really mean anything, anyway. When James Atherton reached home that evening, he found the house lighted from top to bottom. Beautifully dressed women were everywhere, and in their midst--Aunt Rachel, at her best!