which Snelgrove drew upon freely; and Dave sent his mother fifty dollars extra that month, writing her: "Please spend it on yourself, every cent of it. Oh, mother, do get yourself a few nice things."
This gave him some satisfaction, though he knew his mother never would spend that money upon herself; and after she had not but had written him a careful accounting of how it had gone, he determined to buy an outfit for her himself next month. So he wrote his sister Deborah to abstract from the old packing trunk the winter dress his mother would have put away and to send it to him.
When it arrived, he did not know quite how to proceed; for Alice always had helped him in the selection of any considerable present for his mother. His idea was to take the dress down to Field's, exhibit it as a sample for size and trust to the aid of the salespeople.
He thought of asking Fidelia's advice; but he had yet done nothing so deliberate as suggesting a shopping expedition with her. Daily he saw her, of course, frequently he walked with her; and, besides meeting her about the university buildings and on the campus, he found her at dances to which he went.
There was a "formal" at almost every week-end; and often there were two big affairs. For spring was the natural season for festivities. Winter had its dances but they suffered, in comparison, from being necessarily shut into ball-rooms and heated halls; also the basketball championships went on through winter, claiming many Friday and Saturday evenings. Autumn was a far sterner season than spring, not only by
