“My dear, I wish you weren’t quite such a goose. Is it likely that I should expect you to be interested in a combination of sand and grit?” Robert looked back at the fire. “There’s no telling what a solicitous mother will expect when there are shekels in the balance. It would be a dangerous clash under the same roof, for you know I’m two thirds brass and the other third pure affection, and that’s a mixture akin to dynamite.” Silence again for a space. “What are you going to do when we get back to the Hub?” inquired Robert at last. “We haven’t quite decided, your uncle and I.” “I’m going to Fairport to sail with Brute.” “You are? Well then, we shall be tempted to follow. Is it a possible place outside the cottages?” “Quite so, Brute says. Getting more so every year, because there’s a river flowing into the sea that gives the variety of canoeing. He says the Fairport Inn is getting to be quite dressy.” “Why shouldn’t we all try it, then?” asked Mrs. Nixon. “All?” “Yes, all. It would be the best of ways for us to test Miss Maynard’s suitability. I shall not ask her to live with us without your consent, Robert,” finished Mrs. Nixon solemnly. “The home-circle is sacred.” CHAPTER XV AN EXODUS WHATEVER interview Miss Maynard and Bruce may have had in the Lookout of the inn, it did not appear to have changed the young man’s mood when later he sought his stepmother. She was in her bedroom wrapped in a negligée when she admitted him. “Was it very beautiful?” she asked eagerly. “Very extensive; yes, fine,” he replied. “You must take me up there to-morrow, Irving.” “I don’t think I shall be here to-morrow. That’s what I came to speak to you about.” “Not be here!” repeated Mrs. Bruce in dismay. “Why, look at this room, Irving.” The speaker indicated the woodsy interior. “Isn’t it perfectly enchanting? I was just asking Betsy if she didn’t feel like a dryad.” Irving glanced at Betsy, quite slim enough for the rôle, laying out her mistress’s night paraphernalia on a second bed in the opposite corner of the green room. “I was just saying I should like to stay here all summer. What do you mean by to-morrow, Irving?” “Nothing that need disturb you at all. I hear alluring stories of fishing at the lake. I thought I would go there and wait till you came.” “Oh, dear!” returned Mrs. Bruce. “Is Nixie going too?” “I haven’t asked him yet. He may. I’ve seen all I care to see here. Thought I’d come and explain because I might get off before you’re up in the morning.” “Oh Irving, I don’t know that I want to stay with Mrs. Nixon!” Mrs. Bruce’s tone indicated that she had suddenly found her doll stuffed with sawdust. “Stay with Betsy and Miss Maynard then. You have an embarrassment of riches.” “Did you have a pleasant time with Miss Maynard? What is the demure little creature like when she gets off with a man?” “Why, she gets on with him.” “Tell me, Irving.”