“That is unwise of him,” Mr. Farrington commented, “Did you bring him to a better way of thinking?”

“I wrestled with him; but he was still proclaiming that ’girls aren’t any good,’ so I beat a retreat.”

“He needs a girl to bring him up, as you brought me,” Billy remarked.

“There aren’t many who would dare attack Allyn,” Theodora said, laughing.  “I had you at my mercy; you couldn’t escape.  Allyn can fight and run away; that makes him doubly dangerous.  He does fight, too.  He is a dear boy, Billy; but I honestly think that, if he goes on, he won’t have a friend left in town.  He is a veritable porcupine, and his quills are always rising.”

“He has the worst of it.  But I do wish you needn’t worry about him, Ted”

“I don’t really worry; only I wish more people knew the other side of the boy.  But now prepare yourself for a shock.  It is Babe, this time.  She is going to study medicine.”

“What!”

“Yes.  She came home for that.”

“Phebe a doctor!  She is about as well fitted for it as for a—­plumber.”

“So I think; but to hear her talk about it, one would think her whole aim in life was wholesale surgery.  She appears to revel in grim details of arteries and ligaments.  The fact is, she is restless and wants some occupation, and this seems to appeal to her.”

“I believe I know how she feels.  I went through something the same experience, my last year in college,” Billy said thoughtfully.  “It is a species of mental growing pains; one wants to do something, without knowing just what.  I don’t believe Babe will ever write M.D. after her name, and I devoutly hope she won’t kill too many people in trying for it; but the study will be good for her.  She has played long enough, and a little steady grind will help her to work off some of her extra energy.  Let her go on.”

Theodora rose and stood leaning on the back of his chair.

“You are such a comfort, Billy,” she said gratefully.  “I was afraid you would be horrified at the idea, and feel that Phebe didn’t appreciate all your mother has done for her.  It was a great deal for her to take a young girl like Babe for two years, and give her the best of Europe.  Babe knows it, and she almost reveres your mother.”  She was silent for a moment.  Then she said impetuously, “Billy, are my family too near?”

“Of course not.  Why?”

“Are they too much in evidence?  We belong to each other, you and I; I want you all to myself, and it seems as if my people were always coming in to interrupt us,—­not they themselves, but worries about them.  I love them dearly, and I want them; but I could be content on a desert island alone with you.  I never have half enough of you, and sha’n’t, as long as I have to bring up Allyn and Phebe and Hubert.  Your family are well-behaved; they stay in the background.”

“They may crop up unexpectedly,” Mr. Farrington answered, in a burst of prophecy of whose truth he was unconscious.  “But what about the book, Teddy?  It is time you were at work.”