“I don’t see how you can help it,” Rex replied. “It will be her wedding-present, and keep her from that miserable little flat you talk of. You and Rena in a flat! No, sir! You are to have a handsome suburban villa, with grounds and garden, where I can visit you occasionally. I hate flats, and climbing stairs, and so will Rena. I thought it out and talked with Uncle Colin before I spoke to Rena, and you are to come here whenever you like and Rena is to be mistress, just as Sandy meant her to be. It is all fixed, and you needn’t kick. I’ve tried my experiment, and it worked beautifully. I was in earnest, too, I am sure I love the girl, if, as Uncle Colin says, love consists in a kind of all-over feeling when you touch her hand or look at her, and if it were not for you I’d win her, too. As it is, I give her up, but I’ll have my revenge in my own way. What have you to say about it?” Tom had a good deal to say, but nothing moved Rex, who insisted that he could and should do what he liked with his own, when it was his, and as he was getting very tired, Tom gave up the contest and went to see Rena, whom he found tear-stained and indignant, nearly as much with him as with Rex. Mr. Travers had proposed, she said, and Tom knew he was going to and had let him, and if Irene were not coming she’d go home that day, and she didn’t care, so there! Tom listened and laughed and tried to soothe her and explain as far as possible without giving Rex away. “He certainly is a little off,” he said, “and if he wanted to try his luck with you why shouldn’t I let him, feeling sure of you, as I am? And then I was curious to know what a matter-of-fact chap like him, who used to shiver at the sight of a girl, would say. What did he?” “He talked about my pulse beating in unison with his, and a lot more ridiculous stuff, not at all like you,” Rena replied, beginning to feel her anger melt away as Tom kissed her flushed face and told her not to mind the vagaries of a crazy man, but adding, “I guess I wouldn’t go near him again till Irene comes.” CHAPTER XXII IRENE She came at last, but the McPherson carriage was not waiting for her; Colin would not have sent it if he had known she must walk and Rex did not know she was coming. Tom and Rena, however, were at the station to meet her. Rena was glad to see her, while Tom seemed to be, and made her feel so comfortable that by the time the house was reached she was quite herself, without the air of superiority she had assumed when she first came to Oakfield. Then she was the Miss Burdick, claiming precedence everywhere.