It was a bargain, of course, as father and daughter tried to convince Mrs. Ridge. But the old lady, accustomed to Euston, Pa., rents, thought that the forty dollars a month they had to pay for the West Laurence box was regal, and when it was a question of subletting it at a sacrifice and taking another for twice the sum she quaked--visibly. "Don't you think, Horatio, you'd better wait and see how the new business goes?" But the voice of prudence was not to the taste of the younger generations. "It'll be so near the store," Milly suggested. "Papa can come home for his lunch." "You've got to live up to your prospects, mother," Horatio pronounced robustly. The old lady saw that she was beaten and said no more. With compressed lips she contemplated the future. Father and daughter had no doubts: they both possessed the gambling American spirit that reckons the harvest ere the seed is put in the ground. That evening after Milly had departed Horatio explained himself further,-- "You see, mother, we must start Milly the best we can. She's made a lot of real good friends for herself, and she'll marry one of these days. It's our duty to give her every chance." It never occurred to Horatio that a healthy young woman of twenty with no prospect of inheritance might find something better worth doing in life than amusing herself while waiting for a husband. Such strenuous ideas were not in the air then. "She'll always have a home so long as I'm alive and can make one for her," he said sentimentally. "But she'll get one for herself, you see!" He was vastly proud of "his girl,"--of her good looks, her social power, her clever talk. And the old lady was forced to agree--they must give Milly her chance. * * * * * So that autumn the Ridges trekked again from West Laurence Avenue to the snug little house on Acacia Street, "just around the corner from the Drive." At last Milly had won her point and translated herself from the despised West Side to the heart of the "nicest" neighborhood in the city. After the turmoil of moving she went to her bed in the third floor front room, listening to the splash of the lake on the breakwater, dreaming of new conquests. What next? PART TWO GETTING MARRIED I THE GREAT OUTSIDE