You have shown
exquisite taste, dear; but I feel as though I had badgered you into it,
following as it does on top of the house and everything else."
"No, dearest," I answered, stroking her hair. "I am proud of you--I am
grateful to you. A man falls behind the times before he is aware of
it. The world changes and paterfamilias ought to change with it out of
consideration for his children. You were perfectly right, Josephine,
just as you were right about the moving. Our house was too small and I
was getting to look fusty and frowsy."
"Not so bad as that, Fred. I never said that you didn't look perfectly
clean and respectable. All I meant was that there are such pretty
things now, it seems a pity not to wear them. It wasn't the fashion to
wear them when you were young. I mean younger than you are now," she
added, patting my cheek. "I am glad, Fred, that you are reconciled to
the house. I know that I have been a thorn in your flesh for the last
eighteen months on account of it. I didn't mean to be irritating about
the moving, but I was, and my soul has been wearing sackcloth and ashes
ever since because I was so nasty. You see, Fred, in the first place,
though I pretended to be pleased at your selecting the house, I was
really dreadfully disappointed, for half the fun of a new house is
choosing it.
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