"Our meat and grocery bills will be almost nothing, Eddie dear," she said one day, with an enthusiasm that discouraged him. "You see, I mean to keep my figure, now that I've got it. I sha'n't eat a thing for days at a time. We'll have no meat, nor potatoes, nor sugar--" "Just bread and cheese," said he wanly. "And something else," she added coquettishly. "Kisses are fattening," he said. "Goodness! Who ever told you that?" she cried in dismay. "A well-known specialist," he said, his mind adrift. "Well, there is one thing sure, Eddie," she declared firmly; "we will not go into debt for anything. We positively must keep out of debt. I won't have you worrying about money matters." "I'm not likely to," said he with conviction. He then began to watch for signs of decrepitude in the General. As soon as Martha was strong enough to travel, her step-father suggested that they go South for the winter instead of opening the little house down the street. He went so far as to offer to pay the expenses of the trip as a sort of belated wedding gift. Eddie objected. He said that his real estate business was in such a state that he couldn't afford to leave it for a day. "I didn't know you HAD a business," exclaimed the General. "I am making arrangements to take up a Government claim in Alaska," said his son-in-law grimly. "Great Scott!" "I'm going to some place where I can DIG for gold." "Are you in earnest?" "Bitterly." "And--and would you subject Martha to the rigours of an Alaskan winter in--" "Inasmuch as we shall have to subsist on snowballs until you pass in your cheques, General, I think we'd better go where they are fresh and plentiful." Fortunately for the bride and groom, everybody that was anybody in Essex gave them a wedding present. Not a few, in a fever of exultation, gave beyond their means, and a great many of them with unintentional irony gave pickle dishes. By the time they were ready to go into their new home, it was cosily, even handsomely furnished. The General, contrite of heart, spent money lavishly in trying to make the home so attractive for Eddie that he wouldn't be likely to desert it for something worse. The groom's sense of humour was only temporarily dulled. He noted signs of its awakening when he assisted in the unpacking of four cheval mirrors, gifts to the bride from persons who may or may not have been in collusion but who certainly wanted Martha to see herself as others saw her, and, as it turned out, from all sides. The glow of health--an almost superhuman health--increased in the countenance of Mrs. Edward Ten Eyck. Her hair was a bit slow in restoring itself, and a shade or two darker, but on the other hand, despite all she could do to prevent it, she resumed her natural proportions with a rapidity that was sickening. It was not long before her figure was unquestionably her own.