of teeth to the head!" I snapped.
"Never mind him. It's you I'm interested in. Dear baby, your nosebud is
quite pink. You've been crying--not for Tom's tooth."

"Maybe I got sunburned motoring," she paltered with me.

"Nonsense! You've a sunproof complexion, as well as waterproof hair.
_Out_ with it, darling!"

"You talk like a dentist," Pat put off the evil moment.

"I hope your dentist doesn't call you 'darling.' Mine wouldn't twice.
Seriously, my child, I don't want to intrude; but we're friends, aren't
we? and I'm older than you (worse luck!), so you might let me help. Is
it anything to do with housekeeping worries? Has the cook fainted on the
breakfast bacon--or----"

With that--perhaps the picture was too awful!--she burst into tears.
"Oh, Larry has promised Mrs. Shuster he'd marry her, and I must save
him," she sobbed.

My dear Mercedes, you could have knocked me down with a dandelion seed!
Positively my feet felt wobbly under me, like standing on poached eggs.
Instantly I realized why the Dove of Peace hadn't wanted to go motoring
with us happy, innocent mortals, and why Larry--hypnotized by Mrs.
Shuster's money or his own fatal good nature--had pretended that he must
stop at home to look after his guests. I wished I were as common as
_mud_, and could have gasped out "_Gosh!_"

I've told you a good deal about Mrs. Shuster, haven't I? She's not a bad
sort in her way--but for Larry, _unthinkable_! Yet I might have
guessed. She's been doing her hair a new way lately, and powdering her
face. For Larry to have to kiss it now would be exactly like kissing a
marshmallow. She's so awkward, too: the least obstacle attracts her like
a magnet to stumble over it, and Larry hates awkwardness. Then her
clothes! She could force a fashion to change, simply by following it far
enough; and she's taken to wearing such bright colours it would be more
comfortable to look at her through smoked glasses. Oh, yes, I ought to
have guessed!

"Save him?" I echoed. "We'll all save him."

"He says it's too late to back out, now, in honour," wailed Pat. "The
Moores have always been ter-r-ibly honourable."

I thought from what I'd heard of some, not excepting Larry himself, that
"terribly" was the word. I bit my heart and was silent, however, and
Patsey went on: "I've done my very best. I've told him it wasn't
_necessary_. I feel sure (though of course he's too chivalrous to say so
of poor Mrs. Shuster) that he would _nevaire_ marr