"Now, Charlie, you know that all girls have to learn at some time or other," interrupted Bettina's mother. "And I believe that Bob has fared pretty well, considering that Bettina is just beginning to keep house——"
"I should say so!" said Bob, heartily. "Why, I'm getting fat! I was weighed to-day, and——"
"Don't say any more, Bob! We'll rent the house and take to boarding! If you get fat——"
"No boarding-houses for mine! Not after your cooking, Bettina! I had enough of boarding before I was married. Say—how long ago that does seem."
"Has the time dragged as much as that? Well, I'll change the subject. Dad, how do you like my Japanese garden? I think it's pretty, don't you?"
"I certainly do, my dear. What are those feathery things?"
"Why, don't you know that, Father? And when you were a boy, you worked on a farm one summer, too! There's a parsnip and a horse radish, and a beet. Then there are a few parsley seeds and grass seeds on a tiny sponge! And see the little shells and stones that Bob and I collected for it."
"Yes, we found that pink stone up the river on a picnic a year ago last May, before we were engaged, or were we engaged then, Bettina? And the purple one——"
"Oh, you needn't reminisce," Bettina interrupted hastily. "Eat your dinner."
"Every little stone
Has a meaning all its own,
Every little shell——
But it wouldn't do to tell."