She spoke firmly of the advantages of East Acacia Street
as a residence--she had even picked out the house, the last but one in
the same row of stone-front boxes where the Nortons lived.
It made Horatio restless. Like a good father he wished to indulge his
only child in every way--to do his best for her. But with his salary of
three thousand dollars he could barely give Milly the generous allowance
she needed and always spent in advance. Rise at Hoppers' was slow,
although sure, and the only way for him to enlarge Milly's horizon was
by going into business for himself. He began to talk of schemes, said he
was tired of "working for others all his life." Milly's ambitions were
contagious.
After one of the family conflicts, Grandma invaded Milly's bedroom,
which was quite irritating to the young woman.
"Mildred," she began ominously. "Do you realize what you are doing to
your father?"
"The rent is only thirty dollars a month more, grandma," Milly replied,
reverting to the last topic under discussion. "Papa can take it out of
my allowance." (Milly was magnificently optimistic about the
expansiveness of her allowance.) "Anyhow, I don't see why I can't live
near my friends and have a decent--"
The old lady's lips tightened.
"In my days young girls did not pretend to decide where their parents
should live."
"These aren't your days, grandma, thank heaven!.
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