rs to which he was
entitled, and then Ruth, remembering her duties, said how glad she was
to know them; and would they have lemon or sugar?--and Corinne, with a
comprehensive glance of her rival, declined both, her excuse being that
she was nearly dead now with the heat and that a cup of tea would finish
her. Jack had winced when his ears caught the flippant answer, but
it was nothing to the way in which he shrivelled up when Garry, after
shaking Miss MacFarlane's hand as if it had been a pump-handle instead
of a thing so dainty that no boy had a right to touch it except with
reverence in his heart, had burst out with: "Glad to see you. From the
South, I hear--" as if she was a kangaroo or a Fiji Islander. He had
seen Miss MacFarlane give a little start at Garry's familiar way of
speaking, and had noticed how Ruth shrank behind the urn as if she
were afraid he would touch her again, although she had laughed quite
good-naturedly as she answered:

"Not very far South; only from Maryland," and had then turned to Jack
and continued her talk with the air of one not wishing to be further
interrupted.

The Scribe does not dare to relate what would have become of one so
sensitive as our hero could he have heard the discussion going on later
between the two young people when they were backed into one of Peter's
bookcases and stood surveying the room. "Miss MacFarlane isn't at all my
kind of a girl," Corinne had declared to Garry. "Really, I can't see why
the men rave over her. Pretty?--yes, sort of so-so; but no style, and
SUCH clothes! Fancy wearing a pink lawn and a sash tied around her waist
like a girl at a college commencement--and as to her hair--why no one
has ever THOUGHT of dressing her hair that way for AGES and AGES."

Her mind thus relieved, my Lady Wren had made a survey of the rooms,
wondering what they wanted with so many funny old portraits, and whether
the old gentleman or his sister read the dusty books, Garry remarking
that there were a lot of "swells" among the young fellows, many of whom
he had heard of but had never met before. This done, the two wedged
their way out, without ever troubling Peter or Miss Felicia with their
good-bys, Garry telling Corinne that the old lady wouldn't know they
were gone, and Corinne adding under her breath that it didn't make any
difference to her if she did.

CHAPTER IX

But Jack stayed on.

This was the atmosphere he had longed for. This, too, was where Peter