As the two sisters went over their little apartment, and discovered its possibilities, old Miss Eliza's interest centered in the youth as well as the sex of their real-estate agent. "Look at that wood-box!" she said;--"to think of a girl having so much gumption!" "Oh, dear!" said Miss Mary--and pointed a shrinking finger at the stub of a cigarette on the parlor windowsill, "I thought I smelt smoke; a workman must have left it." But the cigarette was the only fly in the ointment. The apartment, with its "art" finishings, electricity, and steam-heat, was to the country ladies and their one elderly maidservant a miracle of beauty and convenience. "Arthur was wonderfully wise in asking Miss Payton to attend to it for him," Miss Eliza said. "I wonder if--it means anything?" Miss Mary queried, with an arch look. "After all, he must know her very well, to have told her just what we wanted--rooms and bath, and all that. It is rather intimate, you know." "I _hope_ it means something! I hope he has got over that wicked jilt, Kate Morrison!" "Well, the Paytons are nice people," the younger sister said; "she was a Holmes, you know." They were both eager to see dear Arthur and Miss Payton, for they felt sure they would know the moment they saw them together whether he had "got over" Kate. "When people are in love they always betray it," said Miss Eliza. But when Mr. Weston brought Miss Frederica Payton to call, no "love" was betrayed on either side. In fact, the call was such an astonishing experience to the two sisters that they quite forgot their sentimental wonderings. Frederica accepted their thanks and appreciation very pleasantly, but a little bluntly. Oh, yes, the sunshine in the dining-room was very nice; she was glad they liked it. But she hoped they'd survive the jig-saw over-mantel and the awful tiles in the parlor. "They made me pretty sick," she said. "Why, I thought the mantelpiece very artistic," Miss Mary said, blankly. "The porcelain bath-tub is dandy," Fred said, with real pride. "Dandy?" murmured Miss Eliza. "It made me feel as if I could hardly wait for Saturday night to take a bath," the Real Estate Agent said. The two ladies looked startled--not at the antique joke, but to refer to bathing in Arthur's presence! "I mean the tub is bully," Fred explained; "and the plumbing--" Here she became so specific that her modest old clients grew quite red. She had been obliged to get a plumber in to work on the trap the afternoon before they came, but she was sure everything was all right now. The door-bell rang at this moment, and while the Misses Graham, breathless under the shock of Miss Payton's thoroughness, welcomed (of all people!) old Mrs. Holmes, Fred was able to groan to Arthur Weston, "Can't we get out?" "We cannot," he said, decidedly; "now brace up and be nice to your grandmother."