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198
FIDELIA

"Mother Herrick is sweet. I know I'll love her and she will truly try to like me. I guess it is pretty sure that father Herrick won't. We are going to Itanaca this afternoon."

Fidelia was writing in a room at the Blackstone Hotel. She had a beautiful and luxurious room and she liked the comfort of it after their camp; but it did not particularly impress her. She was used to stopping at very good hotels when she visited cities and she had little idea of the mental struggle it had cost David to decide upon the extravagance of this room.

To her, the decision depended chiefly upon whether they could afford it; and David had assured her that he could and he was particularly positive after he had visited his office and talked with Snelgrove; for he discovered that during his absence the factory had continued delivery of cars and the model was proving a "catchy" and popular one. Customers were coming in and buying.

Fidelia had in her dresser drawer five ten-dollar bills which her husband had given her, for her personal use, and which were a sort of trophy taken from his commissions which had been accumulating for him. She did not need the money and she had no idea of spending it but she liked his giving it to her. She had a hundred dollars of her own, which she had carried to camp, and now she went out to buy gifts for David's family.

She walked up Michigan Avenue debating with herself what she could bring. She could not give clothes, at least not necessary clothing such as she had helped David select in the spring; yet she must give some