me."

"I'll try to remember," she said, and thoughtfully lifted to her face
the bouquet of violets and lilies, a gesture which George noted without
approval.

"Look here! Who sent you those flowers you keep makin' such a fuss
over?"

"He did."

"Who's 'he'?"

"The queer-looking duck."

George feared no such rival; he laughed loudly. "I s'pose he's some old
widower!" he said, the object thus described seeming ignominious enough
to a person of eighteen, without additional characterization. "Some old
widower!"

Lucy became serious at once. "Yes, he is a widower," she said. "I ought
to have told you before; he's my father."

George stopped laughing abruptly. "Well, that's a horse on me. If I'd
known he was your father, of course I wouldn't have made fun of him. I'm
sorry."

"Nobody could make fun of him," she said quietly.

"Why couldn't they?"

"It wouldn't make him funny: it would only make themselves silly."

Upon this, George had a gleam of intelligence. "Well, I'm not going to
make myself silly any more, then; I don't want to take chances like that
with you. But I thought he was the Sharon girls' uncle. He came with
them--"

"Yes," she said, "I'm always late to everything: I wouldn't let them
wait for me. We're visiting the Sharons."

"About time I knew that! You forget my being so fresh about your father,
will you? Of course he's a distinguished looking man, in a way."

Lucy was still serious. "In a way?'" she repeated. "You mean, not in
your way, don't you?"

George was perplexed. "How do you mean: not in my way?"

"People pretty often say 'in a way' and 'rather distinguished looking,'
or 'rather' so-and-so, or 'rather' anything, to show that they're
superior don't they? In New York last month I overheard a climber sort
of woman speaking of me as 'little Miss Morgan,' but she didn't mean my
height; she meant that she was important. Her husband spoke of a
friend of mine as 'little Mr. Pembroke' and 'little Mr. Pembroke'
is six-feet-three. This husband and wife were really so terribly
unimportant that the only way they knew to pretend to be important was
calling people 'little' Miss or Mister so-and-so. It's a kind of snob
slang, I think. Of course people don't always say 'rather' or 'in a way'
to be superior."

"I should say not! I use both of 'em a great deal myself," said
George. "One thing I don't see though: What's the use of a man being
six-feet-three? Men that size can't handle themselv