"I haven't seen him lately. He hasn't been over since the day he called on me."
"Guess I haven't thought to ask him to come along. Dad is possessed just at present by a very foolish idea. They've told you, haven't they?"
"No. Told me what?"
"Why, that after we're carried, he's to come over here to live with Aunt
Francesca and Rose, and give us the house to ourselves."
"I hadn't heard," she replied, indifferently.
"I don't know when I've felt so badly about anything," Allison resumed. "We've always been together and we've been more like two chums than father and son. It's like taking my best friend away from me, but I know he'll come back to us, if you ask him to."
"Probably," she assented, coldly. "I suppose we'll be in town for the
Winters, won't we, and only live here in the Summer?"
"I don't know, dear; we'll see. I've got to go to see my manager very soon, and Dad asked me to find out what you wanted for a wedding present. I'm to help him select it."
"Can I have anything I choose?" she queried, keenly interested now.
"Anything within reason," he smiled. "I'm sorry we're not millionaires."