"You must feel proud of yourself, Lena,"
I said heartily. "Look at me; I've never
earned a dollar, and I don't know that I'll
ever be able to."

"Tony says you're going to be richer than
Mr. Harling some day. She's always brag-
ging about you, you know."

"Tell me, how _is_ Tony?"

"She's fine. She works for Mrs. Gardener
at the hotel now. She's housekeeper. Mrs.
Gardener's health isn't what it was, and she
can't see after everything like she used to.
She has great confidence in Tony. Tony's
made it up with the Harlings, too. Little Nina
is so fond of her that Mrs. Harling kind of
overlooked things."

"Is she still going with Larry Donovan?"

"Oh, that's on, worse than ever! I guess
they're engaged. Tony talks about him like
he was president of the railroad. Everybody
laughs about it, because she was never a girl
to be soft. She won't hear a word against him.
She's so sort of innocent."

I said I didn't like Larry, and never would.

Lena's face dimpled. "Some of us could
tell her things, but it wouldn't do any good.
She'd always believe him. That's Antonia's

[[303]]

p302 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p303w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p304

v?