"What in the world is this, Marie? You don't mean to tell me Frank ever carried such a thing?"Marie blinked at it with astonishment and sat down on the floor. "Where did you find it?
I didn't know he had kept it. I haven't seen it for years.""It really is a cane, then?"
"Yes. One he brought from the old coun-
try. He used to carry it when I first knew him.
Isn't it foolish? Poor Frank!"
Alexandra twirled the stick in her fingers and laughed. "He must have looked funny!"Marie was thoughtful. "No, he didn't, really.
It didn't seem out of place. He used to be awfully gay like that when he was a young man. I guess people always get what's hard-est for them, Alexandra." Marie gathered the shawl closer about her and still looked hard at the cane. "Frank would be all right in the right place," she said reflectively. "He ought to have a different kind of wife, for one thing. Do you know, Alexandra, I could pick out exactly the right sort of woman for Frank--now.
The trouble is you almost have to marry a man before you can find out the sort of wife he needs; and usually it's exactly the sort you are not. Then what are you going to do about it?"she asked candidly.
Alexandra confessed she didn't know.