“And it's true--what it says in there, and what Aunt Hannah and Kate said. It _is_ different when they're hungry! You said yourself if I'd tend to my husband and my home a little more, and--” Bertram looked up with unfeigned amazement. “I said what?” he demanded. In a voice shaken with emotion, Billy repeated the fateful words. “I never--when did I say that?” “The night Uncle William and I came home from--Pete's.” For a moment Bertram stared dumbly; then a shamed red swept to his forehead. “Billy, _did_ I say that? I ought to be shot if I did. But, Billy, you said you'd forgiven me!” “I did, dear--truly I did; but, don't you see?--it was true. I _hadn't_ tended to things. So I've been doing it since.” A sudden comprehension illuminated Bertram's face. “Heavens, Billy! And is that why you haven't been anywhere, or done anything? Is that why Calderwell said to-day that you hadn't been with them anywhere, and that--Great Scott, Billy! Did you think I was such a selfish brute as that?” “Oh, but when I was going with them I _was_ following the book--I thought,” quavered Billy; and hurriedly she turned the leaves to a carefully marked passage. “It's there--about the outside interests. See? I _was_ trying to brush up against them, so that I wouldn't interfere with your Art. Then, when you accused me of gallivanting off with--” But Bertram swept her back into his arms, and not for some minutes could Billy make a coherent speech again. Then Bertram spoke. “See here, Billy,” he exploded, a little shakily, “if I could get you off somewhere on a desert island, where there weren't any Aunt Hannahs or Kates, or Talks to Young Wives, I think there'd be a chance to make you happy; but--” “Oh, but there was truth in it,” interrupted Billy, sitting erect again. “I _didn't_ know how to run a house, and it was perfectly awful while we were having all those dreadful maids, one after the other; and no woman should be a wife who doesn't know--” “All right, all right, dear,” interrupted Bertram, in his turn. “We'll concede that point, if you like. But you _do_ know now. You've got the efficient housewife racket down pat even to the last calory your husband should be fed; and I'll warrant there isn't a Mary Ellen in Christendom who can find a spot of ignorance on you as big as a pinhead! So we'll call that settled. What you need now is a good rest; and you're going to have it, too. I'm going to have six Mary Ellens here to-morrow morning. Six! Do you hear? And all you've got to do is to get your gladdest rags together for a trip to Europe with me next month. Because we're going. I shall get the tickets to-morrow, _after_ I send the six Mary Ellens packing up here. Now come, put on your bonnet. We're going down town to dinner.” CHAPTER XVIII. BILLY TRIES HER HAND AT “MANAGING”