He seemed quite at home in the house, which was perfect in every respect, with plenty of room for guests, a modern hall and staircase, with broad window-seats and a fireplace, and Rena went off into little shrieks of ecstasy, while the six rooms of the flat, third floor, grew smaller and smaller in her mind. “Tom,” she said, at last, timidly, as they sat in one of the window-seats, “how much is a home like this worth?” Tom named a price which made her gasp. “Did you think of buying it?” he asked. “No, I couldn’t, and furnish it and keep it up as it ought to be kept, but it’s lovely,” Rena said. “Why did you bring us here? Whose is it?” “Yours, if you prefer it to the flat.” “Oh, Tom! You ought not to have done it! You couldn’t afford it, and you must let me help, but it was so good in you, you dear, delightful, darling old Tom,” Rena exclaimed, and forgetting that her aunt was present she threw her arms around Tom’s neck, nearly strangling him and knocking off his hat, which rolled on the floor. “Hold on,” he said. “You are choking me to death and wide of the mark. I could not begin to buy the place, even with your help. Rex bought it and gives it to you. I have the deed in my pocket. Here it is.” He drew out a legal-looking document and held it up, but Rena did not see it. She had bounded half across the room, where she stood with flashing eyes and white lips, exclaiming: “I’ll never take it, never!” “Come back here, and I will explain,” Tom said, and rather reluctantly Rena went back and resumed her seat beside him, while her aunt, scarcely less excited, asked: “Is it a joke?” “Not a bit of it. It’s true as the Gospel. Rex bought this house and has given it to Rena, with money enough to furnish it.” “But why did he do it?” Rena asked, and very briefly Tom told her, while she listened with the tears streaming down her face and a strange feeling stirring in her heart. Tom made her understand the will as she never had before, and that eighty thousand dollars were Rex’s in virtue of his having proposed to her and been rejected. Rena was a woman and something like resentment flashed up for a moment as she said: “So all that fine talk about love and my pulse beating in unison with his was put on for the sake of getting the money?” “No, it wasn’t,” Tom said. “He cared for you very much—loved you, if that term suits you better. He told me so, and if you had not been engaged to me he would have tried to win you for himself, I know Rex, the best fellow that ever lived, and the most generous. I tried to dissuade him from doing what he has, but I might as well talk to the wind. He is determined, and so I turn the matter over to you, who can accept or reject, as you please.” “I reject!” Rena said decidedly. “Do you think I can accept so great a gift from Mr. Travers?” “But, Rena, consider the peculiar circumstances,” Mrs. Graham began.