"I've got muscle too, Daddy." Marian bounced across to her father's knees. "Feel me! Can't I play ball with you?" "Letty play!" wailed Letty. The taxi jolted to a standstill in the traffic, and Letty was diverted by a large and black mammy descending from the street car close to the cab. "Girls can't play," said Spencer conclusively. "They can, too, can't they, Muvver!" "Your mother agrees with you, Marian," said Charles. "But not on our handball courts, eh, Spencer?" Catherine flushed at the submerged note in Charles's words. "Don't you give my daughter an inferiority complex!" she said, lightly. But Charles went on, the note rising to the surface. "You won't find the house in very good shape. I wasn't expecting you so early." The glow of the meeting was disappearing under the faint, secret friction. Catherine thought quickly, "He didn't like it--the job, or my coming down. But he isn't admitting it." Aloud she said, "Did Flora desert you?" "Oh, no. She's there, her mouth larger than ever. I meant the finishing touches." "We can give those." "There's Morningside Park!" Spencer's shout was full of delight. "Rocks and trees an' everything!" The taxi had left One Hundred and Twenty-fifth Street and was bumping along the side street which bordered the park. The rocks shouldered up gray and wet through brown, worn shrubbery. "There's where we had the cave," cried Marian. "I remember it." Up to the Drive, a few blocks south, and just around the corner the taxi halted. "Here we are!" Out they all scrambled, to stare up at the gray front, tessellated with windows, while Charles maneuvered the luggage. Catherine felt Spencer's cold hand creep into hers; she held it firmly, knowing that he, too, had the sinking depression with which that monotonous dingy structure filled her. But Sam, the elevator boy, came out, all white grin and shiny eyes, to greet them and carry in the bags. Letty, as of old, clasped her hands over her stomach as the elevator shot up. The key clicked in the lock and the door opened on the familiar long hall. They were home again. "When we have breakfast," declared Catherine, "we won't feel so much like lost cats!" Flora, her gold tooth gleaming in her dark face, was loudly and cheerfully glad to see them. Catherine scurried for towels, and left the children scrubbing their hands, while she walked back through the hall with Charles, who had said he must go to his office immediately. They faced each other in the dim light. Catherine struggled to throw off the constraint which had settled upon her. "That's a grand suit," she said, laying her hand on his sleeve. "You better take your rain coat." "It's at the office. I am afraid I can't come in for luncheon. I made this engagement downtown before I knew you were coming to-day." "That's good." Catherine smiled at him. "Leaves me more time--there are endless things to do." He looked at her, a curious reserve in his eyes.