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Reflow Soldering
Apparatus and Heat Transfer Processes
Reflow Soldering
Apparatus and Heat Transfer Processes

Balázs Illés
Department of Electronics Technology, Budapest University of
Technology and Economics, Budapest, Hungary

Olivér Krammer
Department of Electronics Technology, Budapest University of
Technology and Economics, Budapest, Hungary

Attila Géczy
Department of Electronics Technology, Budapest University of
Technology and Economics, Budapest, Hungary
Elsevier
Radarweg 29, PO Box 211, 1000 AE Amsterdam, Netherlands
The Boulevard, Langford Lane, Kidlington, Oxford OX5 1GB, United Kingdom
50 Hampshire Street, 5th Floor, Cambridge, MA 02139, United States
Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means,
electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and
retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Details on how to seek
permission, further information about the Publisher’s permissions policies and our
arrangements with organizations such as the Copyright Clearance Center and the Copyright
Licensing Agency, can be found at our website: www.elsevier.com/permissions.
This book and the individual contributions contained in it are protected under copyright by the
Publisher (other than as may be noted herein).
Notices
Knowledge and best practice in this field are constantly changing. As new research and
experience broaden our understanding, changes in research methods, professional practices, or
medical treatment may become necessary.
Practitioners and researchers must always rely on their own experience and knowledge in
evaluating and using any information, methods, compounds, or experiments described herein.
In using such information or methods they should be mindful of their own safety and the safety
of others, including parties for whom they have a professional responsibility.

To the fullest extent of the law, neither the Publisher nor the authors, contributors, or editors,
assume any liability for any injury and/or damage to persons or property as a matter of
products liability, negligence or otherwise, or from any use or operation of any methods,
products, instructions, or ideas contained in the material herein.
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ISBN: 978-0-12-818505-6

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Contents

1. Introduction to surface-mount technology 1

1.1 Electronic components 1
1.1.1 Through-hole components 2
1.1.2 Surface-mounted components 3
1.2 Reflow soldering technology 5
1.2.1 Overview of the reflow soldering technology steps 7
1.2.2 Rheology of solder pastes 8
1.3 Stencil printing 15
1.3.1 The process of stencil printing 16
1.3.2 Process parameters and related printing failures 18
1.3.3 Numerical modeling of stencil printing 23
1.4 Component placement 30
1.4.1 Gage R&R study 30
1.4.2 Measuring component placement position 34
1.4.3 Machine and process capability index 35
1.5 Reflow soldering 37
1.5.1 Reflow soldering profile 38
1.5.2 Intermetallic layer formation 41
1.5.3 Component movements during reflow soldering 45
1.6 Pin-in-paste technology 51
1.6.1 Steps of pin-in-paste technology 51
1.6.2 Calculating solder paste volume for pin-in-paste
technology 53
1.6.3 Controlling the solder paste deposition for pin-in-paste
technology 55
References 59

2. Infrared reflow soldering 63

2.1 Introduction 63
2.2 Basics of IR heat transfer 64
2.2.1 Physical background 64
2.2.2 Equilibrium nonequilibrium reflow cases 66
2.3 Basic configurations of IR ovens 67
2.3.1 Near-IR systems 67
2.3.2 Medium to far-IR systems 68
2.3.3 Medium-IR systems mixed with convection 68

v
vi Contents

2.3.4 Pros and cons 68

2.3.5 Improving quality with inert gas 69
2.4 IR emitters 70
2.4.1 Tube emitters 71
2.4.2 Panel or plate emitters 73
2.4.3 Thermal inertia 73
2.5 Batch-type IR oven examples 75
2.5.1 Batch-type oven with drawer design 75
2.5.2 Batch-type oven with C/I heat transfer setup 77
2.5.3 Batch-type oven with advanced C/I heat transfer setup 78
2.5.4 Cheap bench-top IR solutions for hobbyists 80
2.6 Example of conveyor-based in-line IR ovens 80
2.7 Rework and other special applications with IR 81
2.8 Latest improvements, optimizations, and findings 83
2.9 Temperature measurements inside IR and other reflow ovens 85
2.9.1 Basics of thermocouples 86
2.9.2 Thermocouple types 87
2.9.3 Thermocouple attachment 88
2.9.4 Data logging 89
2.9.5 Voltage-to-temperature conversion 90
2.9.6 Typical devices for reflow temperature logging 92
2.9.7 Temperature logging of IR ovens in the literature 93
References 96

3. Convection reflow ovens 101

3.1 Basics of convection heating 101
3.1.1 Basics of steady-state fluid dynamics 102
3.1.2 Convective heat transfer 104
3.2 Structure and operating principle of convection reflow ovens 105
3.2.1 Typical structure of convection reflow ovens 106
3.2.2 Analysis of the operating principle of a convection reflow
oven 110
3.3 Characterization of the convection reflow ovens 114
3.3.1 Distribution of the HTC parameter under the nozzle
matrix 116
3.3.2 Direction characteristics of the heat transfer coefficient in
radial flow layers 124
3.3.3 General HTC values in convection reflow oven 128
References 130

4. Vapor-phase reflow soldering ovens 133

4.1 Introduction 133
4.2 History of vapor-phase soldering 135
4.3 Basics of boiling and heating 137
4.4 The heat transfer medium 139
4.5 Physical background 143
 Contents vii

4.5.1 Basics of condensation heating 143

4.5.2 Analytical solutions for heating PCBs in saturated vapor 145
4.5.3 Heat transfer coefficients during vapor-phase soldering 150
4.6 Vapor-phase soldering ovens 152
4.6.1 Basic vapor-phase soldering ovens 152
4.6.2 Heat-level vapor-phase soldering ovens 154
4.6.3 Soft-vapor-phase soldering and plateau capable ovens 155
4.6.4 Vacuum vapor-phase soldering ovens 156
4.6.5 Custom vapor-phase soldering ovens 158
4.6.6 Batch and in-line ovens 158
4.6.7 Medium extraction and filtration 159
4.7 Quality and reliability concerns in the lead-free era 160
4.7.1 On the joints and alloys 160
4.7.2 Tombstones 162
4.7.3 Voids and void separation in vacuum 162
4.7.4 Electrochemical migration, contaminations, flux 164
4.7.5 Popcorning and package stability 164
4.8 Special applications 165
4.8.1 3D-MID devices 165
4.8.2 Flexible circuits 166
4.8.3 Biodegradables 167
4.8.4 Curing 168
4.8.5 Special components, stacked systems, pin-in-paste 168
4.8.6 Special substrates 169
4.8.7 Space technologies 170
4.8.8 Rework 170
4.9 Measurements inside vapor-phase soldering ovens 171
4.9.1 Thermocouples 171
4.9.2 Height detection with special sensors 174
References 175

5. Special reflow techniques 181

5.1 Die-attach technologies 181
5.1.1 First-level interconnections 181
5.1.2 Die-attach techniques 183
5.2 Gold silicon eutectic soldering 184
5.3 Die-attach with soft solders 186
5.4 Thermal transient characteristics of die-attaches 187
5.5 Effect of void formation on the properties of die-attaches 189
5.6 Low temperature, fluxless soldering 193
References 197

6. Numerical simulation of reflow ovens 199

6.1 Numerical simulations of vapor phase soldering ovens 199
6.1.1 Numerical simulations of vapor space formation 199
6.1.2 Numerical simulation of the condensate layer formation 216
viii Contents

6.1.3 Numerical simulation of the vacuum vapor phase soldering

system 240
6.2 Numerical simulations of other types of reflow ovens 251
6.2.1 Numerical simulations of convection reflow ovens 251
6.2.2 Numerical simulations of infrared reflow ovens 265
6.2.3 Numerical simulations of die bonding ovens 271
References 277

Index 281
Chapter 1

Introduction to surface-mount
technology
1.1 Electronic components
Today electronic circuits consist of almost solely surface-mounted compo-
nents (B90%) and potentially only some through-hole components for real-
izing plug connectors or high power devices. Surface-mounted components
and surface-mount technology are evolving since the mid-1960s [1].
Nowadays, the pitch dimensions reduced down to 0.3 mm or to even lower
by the interest of portable device manufacturers, for example. Nevertheless,
surface-mounted components never can supersede the through-hole devices
entirely; therefore the assembly of both types of components should be done
by the comprehensive soldering technology, which is reflow soldering.
The electronic components can be classified from many points of view,
for example, they can be passive or active components or electromechanical
components like switches, connectors, or relays. From the assembly point of
view, the components can be through-hole (Fig. 1.1) or surface-mounted
(Fig. 1.2). From the packaging point of view, they can be discrete compo-
nents (one function is realized by one component—e.g., a resistor), they can
be packaged as series of alike components (e.g., resistor array), or can be
integrated components, in which many functions are realized by one
component.

FIGURE 1.1 Through-hole integrated circuit—dual inline package (DIP). Reproduced with
permission from G. Harsányi, Elektronikai Technológia e´s Anyagismeret, University lecture
notes, BME-ETT, 2019, ISBN: 978-963-421-791-6 [2].

Reflow Soldering. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-818505-6.00001-7

© 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. 1
2 Reflow Soldering

FIGURE 1.2 Scanning electron microscopy image of a surface-mounted resistor.

In this chapter, the different types of electronic components will be

detailed. Classification possibilities will be elaborated for both through-hole
and surface-mounted components. Finally, the advantages and disadvantages
of both through-hole and surface-mount technology will be given and com-
pared to each other.

1.1.1 Through-hole components

The through-hole (TH) components can have flexible or rigid/fixed leads.
The flexible leads are bent according to the position of the holes in the
printed wiring board (PWB) and cut to the proper size. In the case of TH
components with rigid leads, the through-holes in the PWB are designed
according to the position of the leads in a given raster. In through-hole tech-
nology (THT), component leads are inserted through the holes of the PWB,
and they soldered to the lands (solder ring) on the other side of the PWB.
Therefore a TH assembly has a “component side” and a “soldering side”
(Fig. 1.3).
The arrangement of the component leads can be axial (resistors, capaci-
tors), radial (transistors, LEDs—light-emitting diodes), or the leads can be in
the so-called perimeter style, where the leads are located in the perimeter of
the components along its edges (integrated circuit packages). Further, special
through-hole components are the high lead-count, PGA (pin grid array)
packages (e.g., CPUs in personal computers in the 1990s), and the electrome-
chanical components, like USB connectors. In PGA packages, the leads are
located in a so-called grid array style, where a grid is projected onto the bot-
tom side of a package, and the leads are at points of intersections. The
advantage of these types of components is that they can be placed into
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 Introduction to surface-mount technology Chapter | 1 3

FIGURE 1.3 Schematic of a soldered through-hole component; formation of solder joint in the
case of not-plated through-holes (left side) and plated through-holes (right side). Reproduced
with permission from G. Harsányi, Elektronikai Technológia e´s Anyagismeret, University lecture
notes, BME-ETT, 2019, ISBN: 978-963-421-791-6 [2].

sockets with detachable mechanical joining, which makes it possible to

change the components easily.
The through-hole components are stored according to the type of compo-
nent as follows: axial lead components are stored in two-sided straps; radial
lead components are stored in single-sided straps; whereas integrated circuit
packages are stored in tube/stick magazines. All of them aid the automated
placement of components, which includes the following steps for axial- and
radial lead components:
G Cutting out the component from the strap, in which it is placed in the
proper order
G Picking the component up, bending its leads for the right shape, then
positioning both the component and the bending unit
G Inserting the component into the holes of the PWB, cutting the leads of
the component
G Fixing the components by bending back its leads on the bottom side of
the PWB
High current capacity and high mechanical strength of the connections
are the advantages of THT. Disadvantages include the large area occupied
on both sides of the PWB by the components, and the automated insertion
becomes problematic if the lead count of the component is large ( . 40).
Furthermore, the package shapes of through-hole components are not stan-
dardized exhaustively.

1.1.2 Surface-mounted components

The surface-mounted components are placed and joined (e.g., soldered)
directly to the surface of the PWB. They have short leads, which are inap-
propriate for through-hole mounting, or they have no leads at all, just solder-
able, metalized terminals on the sides or the bottom of the package. The
copper pattern (footprint) on the PWB is designed according to the geometri-
cal layout of components’ terminals. Regularly, the components are placed
onto the soldering pads, and they are soldered on the same side (Fig. 1.4).
4 Reflow Soldering

FIGURE 1.4 Schematic of soldered surface-mounted components. Reproduced with permission

from G. Harsányi, Elektronikai Technológia e´s Anyagismeret, University lecture notes, BME-
ETT, 2019, ISBN: 978-963-421-791-6 [2].

The most widely used passive components are the thick-film surface-
mounted resistors and the ceramic (layer) capacitors. A size code describes
the size of the components—designation, for example, 1206—which indi-
cates the length and the width of the component by the following rule (down
to 0402): 12 3 10 5 120 mil; 06 3 10 5 60 mil, where the mil is milliinch,
the thousandth of an inch (0.001v, 25.4 μm). Regular size codes are collected
in Table 1.1. The surface-mounted passive components are stored in paper-
or plastic tapes.
The active and integrated surface-mounted components can be classified
according to the arrangement of the leads similar to the through-hole compo-
nents. Integrated component packages with perimeter style leads include
SOT (small outline transistor), SOIC (small outline integrated circuit—
Fig. 1.5), QFP (quad flat pack), and PLCC (plastic leaded chip carrier)
packages. Both the QFP and PLCC packages have leads on all four sides of
the component.
The difference between them is that QFP packages have gull-wing-
shaped lead (Fig. 1.6), while the leads of PLCC packages are bent back in
“J” shape. Similarly to these package types, the QFN (quad flat no-lead)
packages do not have leads, but terminals in the form of solderable metalli-
zation on the four sides of the package.
In surface-mounted components, the lead arrangement of grid array style
materializes in BGA (ball grid array) and LGA (land grid array) packages.
The leads of BGA type packages have a ball shape (Fig. 1.7—Bump),
whereas there are no leads in LGA type packages, but metalized terminals
on the bottom side of the package.
The small size, surface-mounted integrated package types are stored in
plastic tapes or plastic sticks. The QFP, PLCC, QFN, BGA, and LGA type
packages are stored in plastic trays for the automatic placement of the
components.
The surface-mount technology has many advantages over the THT. The
size of the surface-mounted components is smaller than that of the through-
hole ones while having the same function. Therefore higher integration,
more functions per area unit can be achieved, resulting in smaller parasitic
effects on the interconnection lines (e.g., leads, traces on the PWB) and in
 Introduction to surface-mount technology Chapter | 1 5

TABLE 1.1 Regular size codes of surface-mounted passives.

Designation L 3W (mil) L 3W (mm)

1206 120 3 60 3.2 3 1.6
0805 80 3 50 2 3 1.2
0603 60 3 30 1.6 3 0.8
0402 40 3 20 1 3 0.5
0201 24 3 12 0.6 3 0.3
01005 16 3 08 0.4 3 0.2
0201 m 10 3 5 0.25 3 0.12
0201 mm 834 0.2 3 0.1

Source: Data from G. Harsányi, Elektronikai Technológia és Anyagismeret, University lecture
notes, BME-ETT, 2019, ISBN: 978-963-421-791-6 [2].

FIGURE 1.5 Schematic of a small outline (SO-type) integrated circuit. Reproduced with per-
mission from G. Harsányi, Elektronikai Technológia e´s Anyagismeret, University lecture notes,
BME-ETT, 2019, ISBN: 978-963-421-791-6 [2].

higher operating frequencies. Furthermore, the surface-mounted components

are almost entirely standardized allowing the easy automation of component
placement by placement machines.

1.2 Reflow soldering technology

Reflow soldering technology is the most popular and generally applied
method for fastening electronic components mechanically to the PWB and
connecting them electrically to the electronic circuit [3]. The solder material
for this technology is the so-called solder paste, which is a dense suspension
of solder particles and flux. The flux is responsible for the cleaning,
6 Reflow Soldering

FIGURE 1.6 Scanning electron microscopy image of a gull-wing-shaped lead in a QFP

package.

FIGURE 1.7 Schematic of a ball grid array package. Reproduced with permission from
G. Harsányi, Elektronikai Technológia e´s Anyagismeret, University lecture notes, BME-ETT,
2019, ISBN: 978-963-421-791-6 [2].

removing oxides and contaminants from the metalized terminals to be sol-

dered. The solder particles are made from solder alloys by ultrasonic or cen-
trifugal atomization with a diameter of a couple of micrometers (B5
45 μm
depending on the type of solder paste) [4]. The solder alloys were mostly
lead-bearing till the beginning of the 2000s; for example, the eutectic tin-
lead, Sn63/Pb37 alloy with a melting point of 183 C was especially popular.
Since the restriction of hazardous substances in the EU (RoHS directive), the
electronic industry was urged to introduce the lead-free solder alloys.
Nowadays, the most commonly used, second-generation lead-free alloys are
Sn-Ag-Cu (SAC)-based alloys. The SAC305 (Sn/Ag3/Cu0.5) alloy with a
melting point of 217 C
219 C is a universal favorite.
A huge number of research works are investigating the properties of SAC
alloys. Based on these works, the wetting and the mechanical behaviors of
some SAC alloys are more superior compared to the traditional Sn/Pb alloys.
However for certain applications, for example, under extreme operation, for
 Introduction to surface-mount technology Chapter | 1 7

example, overpressure [5] or mechanical vibration, the pure SAC alloys

might not perform sufficiently; therefore the development of third-generation
lead-free solder alloys, even doped with microalloys (additives with less than
0.2 wt.%), or with nanoparticles is still a current topic. Some common alloys
and their melting- and solidification temperatures are listed in Table 1.2.
In this chapter, the elementary steps of reflow soldering technology will
be overviewed. The rheological properties of the solder paste, which is one
of the essential materials in this technology, will be detailed. Finally, a new
measurement method will be presented for addressing not just the rheologi-
cal properties but also the thixotropic behavior of solder pastes.

1.2.1 Overview of the reflow soldering technology steps

The reflow soldering technology consists of three basic steps. First, the sol-
der paste is deposited onto the pads of the PWB by stencil printing technol-
ogy. A squeegee is moved with a predefined velocity and force over the
stencil and pushes the solder paste into the apertures (Fig. 1.8). After separat-
ing the PWB from the stencil, the solder paste remains on the solder pads.
Next, the components are placed into the deposited solder paste by auto-
matic placement machines. The machines pick up the component from the
storage (e.g., paper tapes, plastic trays) with a vacuum nozzle, measure its
location and orientation on the nozzle, and place the component by automati-
cally adjusting positional and rotational offsets according to the prior mea-
surements (Fig. 1.9).
Two types of placement machines are distinguished from the placement
head point of view: pick&place and collect&place heads. The pick&place

TABLE 1.2 Solder alloys commonly used in electronics technology

(composition is in wt.%).

Solder alloy Liquidus point ( C) Solidus point ( C)

Sn63/Pb37 183
Sn60/Pb40 183 188
Sn60/Pb38/Ag2 176 189
Sn95.5/Ag3.8/Cu0.7 217 218
Sn96.5/Ag3/Cu0.5 217 220
Sn98.4/Ag0.8/Cu0.7/Bi0.1 217 225
Sn98.9/Ag0.3/Cu0.7/Bi0.1 217 228
Sn91/Ag3.8/Cu0.7/Bi3/Sb1.5/Ni0.15 206 218
Sn42/Bi58 139 141
Exploring the Variety of Random
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beautiful love? The love of Matthew which spends itself in pleasure in
Cecily’s existence rather than in personal desire, the tornado which must
storm the frail soul of Fliss, the rare devotion of Ellen, the servant, for her
mistress, the fine normality of Dick’s feeling for his wife, or the love of
Cecily herself, tormented and abused as such free-given love so often is
tormented and abused by life? The spotlight of circumstance is turned now
on one, now on another, as if seeking to find out.
Its light is focused on Cecily now. Dick knows about his expected child
and every quality in his manhood has leapt into eager response to this proof
of his own continuity. He cannot be too tender; he is fearful lest somehow
things go wrong, and yet immensely sure that everything will be successful.
He assures himself that this is a common happening and carries within
himself the proud knowledge of an event that is absolutely unique. He is
very curious about the physiological marvel, as all men are who for the first
time watch themselves so mysteriously reproduced. And with it all—all the
pride that he feels in his coming child—Cecily remains his young wife as
well as his child’s mother and he feels apologetic that this must hurt her—
even endanger her—and he loves her beyond his pride and hope. Cecily’s
mother knows and surrounds Cecily with every precaution and comfort,
seeming to guard her a little jealously now, even from Dick. Cecily has
given up dancing and most society, and society, noticing—ever on the qui
vive for these domestic interludes and their reactions on the people
concerned in them—accepts the situation with a sigh and a smile and a
touch of sentiment. Young Mrs. Harrison is going to have a baby—“so
soon.” Well, opinion divides here.
Matthew hears of it among the casual gossip, through some chance
remark about Dick, and goes to call on Cecily again, as if her interest were
enhanced for him. Cecily receives him gladly, feeling that she is making a
permanent friend and he is one of the few constant visitors at the gray-
shingled house. Another is Madeline Von Vlectenburg, now Madeline
Ensign, who has married a Carrington man and come to Carrington to live
and whose acquaintance is still so small that she clings to Cecily’s
companionship; and another is Fliss Horton, who has become very
assiduous and helpful in bringing Cecily gayety and Madeline useful
gossip. Fliss has the freedom of Cecily’s house now and treats Ellen with a
charming, friendly informality and Ellen is always glad apparently to set an
extra place for Miss Horton at her employer’s request.
 Ellen knows about the baby too and will let Cecily do nothing for herself
if she can help it. She has a tremendous maiden excitement about all the
preparations and in secret is knitting a pink afghan. In secret—for she never
refers to the coming event except by the most modestly veiled of allusions.
Yet, with all this light focused upon her, with all this care and tenderness
surrounding her, Cecily withdrew into herself, more like her mother than
she had ever been before. Her fears had lessened with the sense of
enveloping support and knowledge and the many preparations normalized
the months, but there grew in her a consciousness of isolation like nothing
she had ever known before. It would come upon her sometimes in the midst
of her friends, listening to the idle talk of Madeline and Fliss—sometimes
when she was with Dick. It was not at all lonely or unpleasant—only a
feeling of being set apart. She tried to explain it to Dick.
“It’s like recognizing suddenly that you are part of a design—it’s
strangely impersonal.”
And again——
“But I’m not worried, Dick, dear. I’m interested and happy. Just because
I’m silent now and then you mustn’t think I’m sad. I can’t help feeling
responsible.”
“It’s the first time I’ve ever felt really responsible, you see. I’ve always
been guided; people have always taken me all the way. Once in the convent
when the priest told us about marriage I got awfully afraid. I suppose I
sensed then that you had to go part of the way alone.”
“Yes, I know. You’re all with me and will be, but you can’t go all the
way, darling. I don’t mind and I’m not afraid. I’ve something to go after,
something to get.”
“Being born,” she told him, more whimsically, “must be a terrific
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Those were the more sober moments, but there was on the whole more
gayety than sobriety about the impending birth. Even Fliss, who held strong
views on motherhood and had more than once remarked that she did not
mean to be ever “tied down,” enjoyed looking at the beautiful baby clothes
and the elaborate equipment which were showered upon Cecily, and they all
talked about it a great deal with a gay frankness and humor utterly
unrestrained by the presence of the men of the intimate circle.
 At dinners, at which Cecily, dressed in some lovely loose robe, presided,
Fliss naturally fell to Matthew and every one but Matthew himself fostered
the pairing. Fliss, playing her game and hating her home background more
every day, waited for something to come of all this. While she waited she
played with Dick and it often happened that Matthew drifted to Cecily’s
side while the others amused themselves. And Fliss made a confidant of
Dick and asked his advice, thereby establishing a bond, for not only did
Dick enjoy giving the advice, but he was naturally curious to see whether
Fliss would take it and if she did take it, whether it would work out well and
prove him wise.
Fliss asked him if he didn’t think she ought to go to work. That was her
temporary line of conversation, but Dick didn’t know that. He pondered it
seriously.
“At what?”
“I’ve had no training and of course I’m not clever. I suppose I’d have to
take up stenography and go into some one’s office.”
“Surely you can find something better than that.”
“What? I can’t teach and I wouldn’t want to, anyway. And what else is
there for a girl who doesn’t know anything about anything and whose only
cleverness is in trimming hats?”
“Start a hat shop.”
“You need money for that, Dick.”
“You need money for everything. You’ll have to face that, unless you
marry it.”
“That, too, has been suggested. But it’s not so easy to find some one with
money whom you can marry.”
Dick’s eyes strayed to the other end of the room.
“How about Matthew?”
“Matthew hasn’t asked me.”
“Shall I tell him to ask you?” teased Dick.
“If you like. But he won’t—even though I wouldn’t marry him if he did.
I want something a little different from Matthew.”
“A shade more jazz.”
“A shade more jazz is right!”
 “Matthew is ruled out.”
Matthew turned to call to them. “Who is taking my name in vain?”
Fliss crossed the room negligently. “We were discussing,” she told him
with her engaging impudence, “the possibility of your marrying me.”
“Am I going to do it?”
“No. Rest easy. I’ve refused you in advance.”
“Because you haven’t enough jazz,” contributed Dick.
“Reason enough. But I wonder why I haven’t more of that peculiar
quality. Of course it’s always existed under a variety of names so I can’t say
I didn’t happen along in the right generation. I never did have it. Perhaps
because I had to go to work too young.”
“Well, I should have gone to work young, and I always had it,” said
Fliss.
Cecily was following them amusedly. “And I never had to work at all
and I haven’t it.”
“Convent training.”
“No, look at Madeline. She’s full of the same spirit Fliss is full of.”
“And Dick?”
“Dick’s a jazzer thrown into high company,” mocked Fliss.
“Dick’s a jazzer—reformed.” Dick put his arm about his wife’s
shoulders and drew her close to him. “You’re all wrong. Jazzing or
whatever you call it is purely a matter of age. When you draw near thirty
you get over it, just as the average man gets over tennis.”
“But I’m not thirty.”
“No,” said Dick, looking down at her tenderly, “but you’ve other fish to
fry. Besides you can’t be classified.”
“French model, one only.” Fliss could always be counted on to remain
flippant. The others caught her note with amusement.
It was one of their many idle, undeveloped, cross-purposed
conversations, which in spite of its lightness had a kind of function in
bringing them nearer together, teaching them what to expect from each
other, revealing their quality to each other. The weeks slipped along, each
one important and interesting in its relation to the coming of Cecily’s child,
bringing that great anticipation closer to them. And the lives of all of them
clung to their own little orbits in the midst of a storm already world
devastating, though there were many moments when they all shivered as
some great tragedy, dulled by distance, came over the wires and through the
papers to them. Cecily, of course, dated all things by the fifteenth of May,
and as the winter changed into spring and the whole world opened happily
under the warming sun, she was more and more eager to bring her waiting
to a close. Dick was impatient, she knew, and that made her more so. She
was catching some of Dick’s quality as she lived with him. She was trying
to learn how to frost the depths of the spiritual isolation which was
absorbing her with a surface companionship during hours which demanded
lightness. There was some sacrifice in learning this new lightness, but she
had a vague feeling that it would make Dick happy if she were not only
happy, but gay.
The wonder of Cecily was that she was twenty, as yet unbigoted, and
that her personality was still vague in its outlines. The convent was of
course mainly responsible for this—in leaving so much to God. The implied
educational method of most schools and colleges is that you have to work
things out “on your own” as definitely as possible—work out God, too,
when you get to it—but the convent method was not so. When things
became tangled or overerudite, or too introspective, or embarrassing and
indelicate, the gentle nuns turned the solutions over to God and left them
there without asking for an accounting. Working with material like Cecily
they took care to perfect her English and her French, even if they totally
neglected economics, gave her a cultural knowledge of science and a
knowledge of history, which was colored by faith in the church, and sent
her out with a clean mind. There were plenty of fine fresh minds coming
out of women’s colleges every day, but their freshness was like the
antiseptic freshness of a laboratory after corruption has been studied and its
traces scoured away; Cecily’s was the freshness of the out-of-doors, which
is different. Mental and emotional qualities were still to develop and,
stepping as she did into marriage so quickly, she had all of psychology, all
of philosophy, to learn. The bag of women’s tricks, already so thoroughly
ransacked by Fliss, was quite unknown to Cecily.
While Dick was teaching her love and some gayeties as well, she was
learning other things. It was absurd to say that Matthew had set himself to
the forming of her mind—what he did was too intangible for him to have
had a definite purpose—but still, he did try to help Cecily to think.
Undoubtedly it was at first for the pure pleasure of seeing the effect that
much discussed themes would have upon a mind as inexperienced as hers
that Matthew introduced many of his conversations. Her ready response led
him further. He lent her books, catching up the broken thread of a
conversation about some problem by sending her relevant printed thought;
he stimulated her mind constantly. And the mind, which must have been a
reproduction in part at least of Allgate Moore’s mind, the part which was
responsible for the fact that people called him “genius,” began to grow.
Such a year for Cecily! There were many nights when she sat listening to
the men talking about the affairs which were absorbing almost all thinking
people’s minds—the sinking of ships at sea, the slaughters of war, the
advances and retreats of the hostile armies, the surmises as to new alliances
—all of it deepening in Cecily her natural sense of the gravity of the
world’s affairs and of the world’s dangers. Then when they stopped—and
they would stop when her comments or queries became too intense, too
worried—she always marveled at the way they, and Dick especially, could
spring back to lightness of thought and word.

It was at Matthew’s suggestion that they went to Allenby. Allenby, as

well as being Matthew’s surname, was the name given in his honor to a
little village at the mouth of one of the mines in which Matthew had large
interests. Dick had been offered the stock which one of the directors was
relinquishing and expressed a curiosity to see the place. Matthew said he
would drive him down if he would take a day off.
“I can’t leave Cecily very well,” said Dick.
“Bring Cecily.”
“Now?”
“It won’t hurt her. The roads are fine; state roads—no frost holes. We
can get across to Judith for the night. There’s a very decent inn there where
we could stop.”
“Yes, I know the place. I’ll ask Cecily. Maybe she’d like it.”
It was the second week in April. Mrs. Warner did not especially approve
of the trip, but Cecily had set her heart on it.
“Well,” compromised her mother, “if they drive slowly it probably won’t
hurt you. Don’t go down any mines. And it’s still cold; take plenty of rugs.”
 To balance the party they had asked Fliss, though, as Fliss said, she was
not sure whether she was chaperoning Cecily or Cecily her, and they started
off early on a Saturday morning, Matthew and Dick proving that it was a
business trip by sitting together in the front seat. Lunch from thermos
bottles and a picnic basket hardly halted them and they reached Allenby in
the middle of the afternoon.
It was, as Matthew said, hardly a village. There was a railway station
and about it were grouped houses and cheap stores flanking the side of brief
indefinite streets of rutted red clay. Its newness was ugly, but, looking at it,
one knew its age would be worse. It had no possibility of growing to charm
and dignity from such beginnings. It was a necessity—nothing more. Their
comments as they looked at it were characteristic. Fliss had the first word.
“So this is where your money comes from.”
Matthew and Dick both laughed. “It’s quite a settlement, isn’t it?” said
Dick. “I’d no idea the place was so big. You must have a thousand people in
the village.”
“And more squatted around the mine itself. You’ll see later.” Matthew
turned to Cecily. “What do you think of my namesake?”
“It seems a desolate place for people to live—a miserable place. I should
think you could make it a little more attractive.”
“That’s not good sociology; that’s charity.”
They left their car at the railroad station and wandered about the village,
Dick growing enthusiastic over things which seemed pathetic to Cecily, and
Fliss amusing herself with comments and trying to dazzle the people she
saw. She insisted that they should have a soda at the store and over that she
was very merry and mocking. Matthew dragged them away.
“It gets dark early and we must see the mine yet.”
The road to the mine was rough and led through a waste of ugly fields,
covered with discolored vegetation. It was growing colder and the dead
bushes shook in the wind. The girls huddled themselves in rugs and began
to think of dinner and the Inn. The mine was interesting, but——
Dick and Matthew, however, had grown absorbed by this time. They
were deep in statistics; they looked interestedly and speculatively over the
barren fields and with real admiration at a group of one story huts grouped
together near the great red pit which was the mine.
 “Some of the people have to live close for various reasons,” explained
Matthew over his shoulder. “In case of a blizzard we have to keep a force
fairly close. There are about a hundred men who live here. A few have their
families, but most of them are unmarried and live in bunk houses.”
A number of children bore witness to the existence of the families. They
were very dirty children—stolid little Scandinavians, most of them. The
automobile awoke their interest. They measured its difference from the
half-dozen begrimed Fords which were casually lined up on one side of the
mine office.
“Want to go down, Fliss? Cecily mustn’t.”
“Love it,” said Fliss.
“We’ll just go down to the first level,” Matthew decided, “to give Fliss
an idea. You must put on overalls though. Come in the office and they’ll fix
you out. I’ve had lots of women here. It’s all right.”
Cecily watched them from the depths of the car as they disappeared over
the edge of the mine, walking on a kind of circular path—Fliss looking like
an extremely rakish boy in her overalls. Then she settled herself to wonder
again how these people lived and how it was worth living without any
beauty or any comfort—or love. She wondered if women loved these rough,
unpleasant-looking men now emerging in little groups. They all went to the
office. It was Saturday night and they were getting their pay. They stared at
Cecily and the car, some stolidly, some hostile in their glances. Vaguely she
wished Dick would come back.
Suddenly a man paused beside the car. He was obviously angry. She had
seen him leave the office, slamming the door with an oath that carried to her
ears, and as he came down the road and she knew he must pass the car, she
felt his hostility even before he spoke. He did not shout, but he came to a
pause and his voice was low and menacing and his face full of hate.
“Sit there, damn you, and grin. They fired me—and they’ll pay for it.
You’ll all pay for it, you damned blood suckers. You——”
Then he called Cecily a name which she had never heard before, but
which was utterly clear in its implication, even to her, and went swiftly
down the road, lost in the increasing crowd of homegoing men. Cecily had
gone dead white. She became conscious of crowds of men pouring past her
now and she felt every face ferocious. She did not want to look at them and
yet she could not help it. She felt suddenly that she was affronting them.
This car, her furs, her luxury of robes, their shacks! And Dick did not come.
Where was he? Why did he not come? Had they caught him and Matthew
down in the mine? Had something happened? She tried to reassure herself,
but her shocked mind went tearing on into confusion. Then in the midst of it
came a pain, a tearing pain like nothing she had felt ever before. Dick,
coming up beside Fliss and Matthew, all three laughing and talking to one
of those men who had so terrified Cecily, saw his wife, white-faced—
staring.
They were all immensely frightened and too inexperienced to be sure
what steps were best to take. Even Cecily was not sure that her hour had
really begun, but before they got back to the little village there was not
much room for doubt. Dick and Matthew looked at each other in utter
consternation. They were four hours away from all the elaborate
preparations for the advent of Cecily’s child; they both had heard of
accidents. The ride back home was not to be attempted, but here, in this
forlorn little mining town——
In those first hours it was Cecily herself who took the initiative. In an
interval between the pains she lifted her head from Dick’s shoulder with an
actual smile.
“Apparently I’m going to spoil the party; and I can’t get back home.
Find me a place to stay over night, Dick—the cleanest house there is. And
telephone Dr. Wilson. In the meantime get hold of the doctor here.”
They did as she said. The little frame house of the mine superintendent
was made ready and the superintendent’s wife, a Swedish woman of forty,
after her first bewilderment took command of the situation and Cecily with
stolid sympathy. Cecily, in a strange hummocky bed, wearing a coarse
cotton flannel nightgown, soon lost the connection between reality and
nightmares. Nothing was real about her—the face of the Swede woman
with her guttural reassurances, the bearded man who they said was the
doctor, but who seemed unable to relieve her torture—but through it all her
mind pounded along on a steady track of fear and determination. She might
lose her baby—she would not lose her baby—they must take care. She kept
giving directions, pathetic directions, about that.
Matthew had found the doctor and after a look at Cecily he told them
that they would have no time to send for their own physician. He did not
seem much concerned about it all and was inclined to take it all very easily.
He was a middle-aged man—Swedish also—with a blond beard and
abstracted blue eyes.
“But,” said Dick, “there’s not even a nurse!”
The doctor smiled. “Fifty babies in six months in this village,” he said,
“and no nurse for any of them. This lady (pointing to Fliss) and Mrs. Olson
will help me—and you, if I need you.”
But it seemed none the less terrible. Matthew and Dick pooled their
knowledge of such events. Fliss stayed by Cecily, remarkably calm, helping
Mrs. Olson in her meager preparations, but white to her lips. And each half
hour the cloud of pain and worry thickened over the little house. It was a
cold night. Mrs. Olson had sent her children to a neighbor’s house. Dick
and Matthew, in the kitchen, tried to conceal their fears.
“Why was I such a damned fool as to bring her?” cried Dick.
“I wish I hadn’t suggested it, but we did and we’re here. We’ll have to
see it through, Dick. The chances are ninety to one that it will come out all
right, old man.” But he, too, was white and his hand shook a little as he
poked at the fire in the stove.
Fliss came in and stood leaning against the door. They jumped up. She
gave them a few directions.
“Hunt through the drug store yourself,” she finished. “We must be sure
the things are right. I’ll watch.”
“Do you think you can, Fliss?” Dick sounded doubtful and Fliss, leaning
against the door, did not look too competent. Her skirt was too short and her
hair too elaborate.
“I’ve got to,” she answered. “I don’t know much, but I’ve heard things—
enough to know what to avoid.”
They had reached Carrington by telephone and knew that Cecily’s
mother, Cecily’s nurse and Cecily’s doctor were now on their way to
Allenby, but it would be three or four hours before they could arrive even
with the greatest of speed. The local doctor had assured them that it would
be over before that. The two men could hear strange sounds that did not
seem natural—cries that hurt almost unbearably to hear. The footsteps
overhead were hurried.
“Do you think—already?” asked Dick.
Then they both heard it.
 Fliss came in again. Her hair was disordered and her face as pale as
before. She faced them with startled, angry eyes.
“So that’s what women have to go through,” she said, “and you never get
a taste of it! My Lord, but it’s fierce!”
Dick had pushed past her, upstairs. It seemed as if Matthew were about
to follow, and restrained himself.
“Is something wrong?” he asked hoarsely. “Is she——”
Fliss actually laughed. All the primitive sex antagonism in her had
seemed to leap out suddenly. She was angrily on guard, fiercely angry at all
men, so free of this agony—quite at her best as she stood there in her wrath.
“Oh, no, nothing’s wrong. It’s bad enough when it’s right. Dick’s got his
baby all right.”
She sat down at table with her face in her hands. Matthew’s face relaxed
a little and he patted Fliss clumsily on the shoulders.
“You’re a brick, Fliss.”
She recovered herself quickly and looked up, brushing her hair back, her
burst of anger seeming quite spent, a wan humor asserting itself.
“There was much the same situation when I was born,” she said
reflectively. “Do you suppose that child will have the same sentiments
towards me that I have towards Mrs. Ellis? I forgot to tell you—it’s a girl.”

CHAPTER X

T HE dawn brought confidence and no small feeling of triumph to all of

them. The nurse, the Carrington specialist and Cecily’s mother all
arrived and with the verdict of the trusted doctor that the baby was
small but healthy and that Cecily was in no danger, they all began to enjoy
the adventure in retrospect. Cecily could not be moved for at least ten days
and the nurse tried to arrange the room as pleasantly and conveniently as
possible, rather arousing a smoldering ire in Mrs. Olson until Dick, taking
her aside, slipped a check into her hand of sufficient size to feed and clothe
the little Olsons for the winter. After that the nurse had things her own way.
Much of Cecily’s equipment had been brought already and her stepfather
arrived later with a great bunch of roses that towered above Mrs. Olson’s
best white water pitcher. It was obviously impossible for them all to stay in
Allenby. Mrs. Warner took a room at a neighbor’s house, the nurse stayed
with Cecily on a camp bed imported from Carrington, and everything
became quickly ordered and made comfortable by the ease of wealth. But
the shock, the healthy encounter with an experience which is no respecter of
wealth and convenience, was to remain in the minds of each of the four
participants for a long time.
Matthew was to take Fliss back to Carrington in the afternoon, for Dick
refused to stir for another twenty-four hours. Sleeping in the kitchen with
Mr. Olson meant nothing to him, he declared. So he stayed. The nurse was
keeping Cecily very quiet, but she let the departing adventurers in for a few
moments. Matthew saw first the big clothes basket on a chair by the
window and then Cecily, with her hair braided tightly back and dark circles
under her eyes. For an instant he looked from one to the other, obviously
unable to speak.
“Take a look at my daughter,” said Cecily.
Matthew obeyed. Then he came over to the bedside and looked at Cecily,
laying a nervous, strangely hot hand on hers.
“It’s a shame I got you into all this.”
“It’s worked out all right and it wasn’t your fault at all. I insisted on
coming. The baby’s healthy and I’m strong—and the experience! You’ve
told me I lacked experience and that my life was cushioned. Well, this
wasn’t cushioned.”
“God knows it wasn’t.”
The girls looked at each other and Cecily suddenly felt her eyes fill with
tears.
“I’ll never forget your seeing me through, Fliss. Never.”
Fliss bent over her and kissed her. She had passed the stage of her first
emotion and was ready to recognize what a lucky incident the whole thing
had been for her. Mrs. Warner had said the same thing that Cecily had just
said. She was established in that family and she knew it. Now that Cecily
was comfortable, that she was out of peril and surrounded by American
Beauty roses, down comforters and in her own silk nightdress, Fliss could
afford to take account of stock and see how her own had risen.
“Good-by, Cecily. When you get back to town I’ll be around to see you.”
 “As soon as I get back,” Cecily pledged her.
“Take care of my foster daughter.”
There was an interesting moment—as Fliss crossed to the improvised
cradle and stood looking down at the baby, an expression on her face which
could mask no ulterior motive. The queer little thing that she had seen come
into the world, struggling, seemed to make her feel shaken.
“Come on, Matthew, Cecily’s tired and we must hurry.”

It was a strange convalescence and perhaps an unusually healthy one, for

there was no excitement and a great deal of quiet. The brunt of the
inconvenience now fell on the nurse and Cecily had only to lie for long,
silent hours, thinking over the whole wonderful event. She listened to the
voices of the children outside her window, marveling that they had been
born just as her child was born, and the roots of that solidarity of
motherhood which all mothers feel for each other began to grow in her. She
had come to that stage in marriage when the mysteries are shared, not with
one other individual, but with a whole sex. Dimly the great expansiveness
of motherhood began to dawn upon her mind.
All this expressed itself not only in her dreaming, but in her curiosity.
She plied the nurse with questions. Physiology and psychology of other
mothers fascinated her. The cases of the nurse, in so far as she would talk
about them, were an endless source of interest. Dick joined her in her
interest. Step by step they went over the story of the birth again and again.
But then Dick left it and went to town, carrying with him the consciousness
of his fatherhood, to be sure, but temporarily overlaying that interest with
business and masculine contact. Cecily lay in bed and thought and talked on
about women and mothers. She had not the slightest intention of playing
upon her illness. She was quick to feel her energy coming back and rejoiced
in it. There was not a suggestion of querulousness in her manner. That she
took the luxury and the petting which surrounded her as things natural to
her was not to be wondered at.
But there was a great deal of praising and petting, and while Dick was
triumphant he was also surrounded by an atmosphere that made him feel
vaguely apologetic for having to undergo so little inconvenience himself.
He was ready enough to admit the apparent unfairness of the situation. Not
that it had ever struck him before. If he had considered it at all before his
marriage he would have said that women had to have children, but men had
to rustle to support them and called it fair enough. In the face of his
personal situation it seemed different. Cecily, frail and pitiable, seemed
indeed to be bearing the heavy end.
It was Fliss who got a real sociological slant on the situation. She visited
Cecily’s house before Cecily returned to Carrington, ostensibly to return a
scarf which she had borrowed of Cecily for the eventful ride, but really to
see and have a gossip with Ellen. Ellen was scrupulous. She would not join
Fliss in the living-room and Fliss was compelled to sit in Cecily’s room
while Ellen polished the furniture. Ellen was very much excited about all
that had happened—a little disappointed at not having been nearer the
center of action herself, but determined to make up for that by making
Cecily’s homecoming as comfortable as possible. The baby having been
born, the pink afghan had been hastened to completion and now lay in state
on the foot of the crib.
“Poor Mrs. Harrison,” said Ellen, “she’s been through a lot, hasn’t she?”
Fliss shrugged her shoulders in impatience. “You all make me sick,” she
said; “she hasn’t been through more than any other woman, has she?”
But she gave Ellen no chance to answer.
“She had a bad time for twenty-four hours—no, about twelve hours. And
for that the whole town sits back and gasps with pity, because it’s Cecily—
Cecily who’s been used to ‘everything.’ What got on my nerves was to see
what all women had to suffer. But I don’t see that Cecily hasn’t got it so
much easier than most people that she doesn’t need my pity or any one
else’s. Nurses and doctors and silk quilts and embroidered layettes take a
good deal of sting out of having babies, I should think. And Dick acting as
if he ought to grovel in the earth because his wife presented him with a
baby! I dropped in to see May Robinson on the way here to-day. She’s
expecting another and doing her own housework. And her husband is on the
road and only gets home for week ends. May isn’t being so darn coddled.
She’s worried sick about how they’re going to afford the new one. I can’t
say that I’m especially sorry for Cecily.”
Ellen gave the dressing table a last flourishing polish and took refuge in
her usual philosophy.
“Well, that’s how things are,” she said. “Some people have more than
others. But that’s no reason why you can’t be sorry for a pretty young girl
like Mrs. Harrison having a thing like that happen when she’s miles away
from home and help and all.”
“She had me,” grinned Fliss, and went on with a brief recital of what she
and Mrs. Olson had done. Ellen listened with interest, although with some
embarrassment.
“It was certainly fine of you, Fliss.”
“Fine nothing. It was the luckiest thing that ever came my way.”
Ellen looked her question.
“Don’t you see how solid it makes me with the Harrisons? It gives me a
real connection. Cecily never will forget a single thing that happened, and
among other things she probably won’t forget that I was the first person to
hold her baby. Yes—the greatest luck I ever had, for there’s more than that
to it. Matthew Allenby knows I’m on earth at last. Of course, it’s Cecily
he’s gone on, but because he thinks I was useful for once—especially to the
angelic Cecily—he actually noticed me as if I were more than a mechanical
toy. And he’s quite a person, Ellen!”
Ellen did not answer and Fliss began to wander around the room looking
at things. She opened Cecily’s wardrobe and pushed dress after dress along
the sliding rod in envious review.
“Lord, what it must be to be rich,” she sighed, “what fun—what fun!”
“Come,” said Ellen, “come out in the kitchen and I’ll fix you a bit of
lunch. You need it,” she added sagely. “You’re always sort of longing when
you’re hungry.”
Fliss laughed and caught her cousin around the waist, waltzing her about
ecstatically.
“You old darling—wait till I am rich and see what I’ll do for you.”
“Look out—Mrs. Harrison’s rugs,” cautioned Ellen.

CHAPTER XI

T HE baby changed from a novelty into a treasure; to the period of

ecstatic delight there succeeded the scientific business of infant care.
The expert nurse having brought her patient back to Carrington and
attended her there until she was full of renewed energy, left and Cecily took
charge of her own baby. There was a nursemaid during the daytime, but at
night when the sudden, piercing little cry sounded from the next room it
was Cecily herself who went to find out whether it was hunger or cold that
caused it. The responsibility matured her as responsibility matures the
average woman. It tired her physically and numbed her mind a little.
“You mustn’t let your cradle become an obsession,” said her mother.
“Of course not. I wouldn’t let myself get too absorbed. It wouldn’t be
fair to Dick,” said Cecily, rather automatically.
“I wonder if you give Dick quite the attention you used to?”
Cecily looked up, surprised.
“It’s very common,” said her mother easily, “to think too much about the
baby and too little about the husband at this time. I hope I don’t seem
intrusive, darling, but you stay at home rather a lot.”
“I have to get back to the baby, you see, if I do go out.”
“The baby is six months old, now. You and Dick ought to go away for a
vacation. I’ll stay here and get a trained nurse for the baby.”
Cecily did not take her up, but she watched Dick that night at dinner.
They did not seem to talk as much as they used to—except about Dorothea.
She crossed over to his place and put her hand softly under his chin.
“Do I neglect you, Dick, dear—for the baby?”
“Do I look neglected?” countered Dick. “Nonsense. Don’t talk like a
problem play. Besides, how could you neglect me for Dorothea? She’s me,
isn’t she?” And he smiled engagingly as only Dick could smile. “If I catch
you neglecting me, you’ll hear from me. Who brought this on? Who’ve you
been talking to?”
“Nobody. Mother just suggested that I might be a bit too concentrated.
She wanted me to go away and leave her in charge.”
“Good idea. I think I could do it next month—if we aren’t going to war.”
“We must wait until after Christmas,” demurred Cecily.
But after Christmas they did not go at once. In January Cecily paid a
secret visit to her doctor. When she came home she sat down in her
straightest living-room chair and looked about her a little queerly. She was
still sitting there half an hour later when Dick came home.
“Well,” said Dick, “how’s my family?”
 Cecily made a feeble little joke, which showed considerable progress in
adjustment.
“Increasing,” she said, with a catch in her voice.
Dick wheeled around.
“Why, Cecily,—why, you don’t mean we’re going to have another!”
She nodded at him, a medley of expressions on her face, all of them
overlaid with that wondering question as to how he would take it.
“You’re sure?”
“Quite.”
They sat down and held each other rather tightly. Responsibilities, more
than toys, more than novelties, spread before them. Then like a clear ray of
light the same thought came to both of them.
“They’ll be great companions for each other.”
“I was thinking about that.”
Fliss came in that night. There was more than usual radiance in her face.
She dashed up for a visit to the nursery, down again to show Dick a new
dance step and Cecily felt a little wistful as she watched her. Waiting—
illness—the stretch looked very long. She wondered what Fliss would say if
she knew.
But Fliss was full of herself and in no mood to inspire confidences.
“Why the million-dollar mood?” asked Dick.
Fliss laughed and flushed a little. “I’ve had something happen to me—
something nice.”
“Secret? Tell us,” begged Cecily. “I want to hear something pleasant.”
“It’s a real thrill. I’m engaged to be married. I’m to be married next
month.”
“Who?”
Fliss had never looked more charming, more provocative. She dangled a
gay little slipper from her toes and looked at them half teasingly.
“You’d never guess. A real high-brow. What he’ll ever do with me I
don’t know. But he can’t get away now.” And then, worked up to her
climax, “I told him I was going to tell you when he wasn’t around—I
wanted the fun. It’s Matthew.”
 “Well, isn’t that great!” said Dick, with the sincerest congratulation for
Fliss and a more than faint wonder in his tone. But Fliss, if she analyzed his
tone at all, was not disturbed. She was looking at Cecily.
Over Cecily’s first shock of surprise there clouded a sense of
relinquishment, unacknowledged. Deliberately she made herself pleased.
“It’s wonderful.” And, more courteous than Dick, she added, “I’m
awfully glad for Matthew.”
Possibly she was not quite quick enough to say it. A little flash lit up
Fliss’s brilliant face and she countered with quick frankness. “I get a lot
more out of it than Matthew, but he’ll get something, according to my
lights, and I may make him happier than people will expect. And,” most
laughingly, “we can’t all be perfect Cecilys. And you were taken.”
If Cecily thought the remark based on more than flippancy she gave no
sign. When Matthew and Fliss came to see them a few days later and he
was alone with Cecily for a few moments she was all congratulation.
“She’ll keep you young, Matthew. She’s always so gay. I can see Dick
brighten up whenever she comes in until I’m almost jealous. All men like
her.”
“Is that a recommendation for a wife?” he asked a little gravely.
“Don’t be foolish. You know that I mean you’ll be very happy.”
“I will be happy,” he answered. “I am happy.” He paused and looked at
her intently. “I am glad that I am going to be married to Fliss and I am glad
that you are alive. We take what we can get of happiness.”
When he had gone she did not analyze his words. She did not want to.
She put the thought of them aside, her thoughts turning to the things that
were always in her mind now. The new baby, and was there going to be a
war?
 BOOK TWO
CHAPTER XII

F LISS—still Fliss despite the dignity of the name of Allenby—was, after

two years, still attracting attention. She reacted to it exactly as she had
reacted to her own popularity at the High School dances. It enhanced
every sparkling quality.
She had been busy. After her marriage, enforcedly quiet because it
would never do to draw unnecessary attention to the social unimportance of
her family, she and Matthew had gone traveling. They had had a good time.
She hung on his arm and petted him; she begged for things and was
enthusiastically grateful for them when he gave them to her. She kept him
laughing and herself in constant good temper and in every fresh
extravagance of silk or fur or velvet she was prettier than before. Matthew
laughed at her and let her pet him and expanded. He called her a little crook
and she admitted it, but he never had the bad taste to ask her if she would
have married him if he had been poor. They were frank with each other, but
never moved much below the easy surface of things. Never had Matthew
really played before, and under her skillful leadership he learned a good
deal about play. He learned the fun of extravagance. His mother had not
been a person to accept money or presents easily. Fliss rose resplendent
from a shower of them. And from the depths of her little savage heart she
was grateful for presents, for relief from sordidness; and grateful most of all
for the sheer content with the life he made possible.
“Don’t we have fun?” she would say in her strongest italics, every now
and then, with a swift little caress that was perfectly honest in its affection
as far as it went.
“We do,” he would acknowledge with smiling, amused understanding—
more than that, with pleasure.
He had his second glimpse of his wife’s remarkable adaptability when
they visited his mother. His mother had been duly written of his marriage,
had duly written to say she expected to see them while they were on their
wedding trip, and, moved by some impulse, Matthew had deliberately
sandwiched a week in the little Indiana town between the more brilliant
points on their itinerary. They arrived in Peachtree about nightfall, stepping
from the jumpy local train to a station platform dripping with rain and lit
only by the dingy glow from a quick lunch counter window. Fliss, well
acclimated by this time to waiting red-caps and taxis, looked about her and
then at Matthew with amusement.
“You are completely out of the picture,” said Matthew. “You look
shockingly resplendent up against Peachtree. Don’t look about you for cabs;
there are no cabs. No one needs cabs here.”
His mother rounded the corner of the station house, driving her umbrella
before her. Matthew seemed to recognize her by the swish of her skirts in
the rain. He took her umbrella and kissed her gravely.
“Good boy,” she said. “Is this Florence?”
Fliss reached half way up on Mrs. Allenby’s spare, tall form. She was
silhouetted for a moment against the black dress of the older woman. Then
Mrs. Allenby inspected the bags.
“Dave Johnson can bring up your grips. You can’t manage the four of
them in this rain, even if it is only a step.”
They left the bags and Fliss, as they went along together, had a
consciousness of wooden sidewalks in indifferent repair, of the stillness of a
country village after the train has gone through, of a town gone to bed
unreasonably early.
Up a little path which crunched under their feet, on a tiny porch where a
rocking chair stood grotesquely upside down so that its seat might be
protected from the rain, through a low door. Matthew struck a match and,
moving familiarly in the darkness, lit a lamp. They were in the parlor.
Fliss had known poverty and shabbiness. This was different from
anything she had ever known. It was the acme of thrift, of cleanliness, of
economy and respectability, and pride. The very glow in the Franklin stove,
coming through the isinglass, was stiff and correct. The furniture, the
prideful Brussels rug with its over-pink central cluster of roses was clean to
extremity. The tidies on the chair backs were straight. The Bible, flanked by
an imposing parlor table volume, margined the white cover on the center
table. The young Mrs. Allenby, standing in the midst of the intensity of
order, felt as exotic and out of place as she looked. But her mother-in-law,