d in 'little
Billy,' as she was in the habit of calling him; he was so short and she
was so tall.

He was speaking of Harold, and he said:

'It's a dused shame he co-couldn't come, b-but he sent some money by
Dick to buy you a b-basket in New York, and by George, we've got you a
st-stunner down to the h-hotel; only I'm a-a-fraid it'll be w-wilted
some b-before to-morrow.

'Yes,' Dick said, coming forward, 'I should not have told you now, if
Billy had not let it out; Hal did give me some money to buy a basket of
flowers for you; the very best I could find, he said, and I got a big
one; but I'm afraid it was not very fresh, for it begins to look wilted
now. You must blame Tom, though; he pretends to be up in flowers, and
advised my getting this one in New York, because it was so handsome and
cheap.'

'Oh, it is all right,' Tom drawled, in that affected voice he had
adopted since his return from Europe. 'It was the best, any way, we
could get for the money. Hal, you know, isn't very flush in the pocket.'

It was a mean speech to make, and all Tom's audience felt it to be so,
while Jerry crimsoned with resentment and answered hotly:

'Faded or not, I shall care more for Harold's flowers than for all the
rest which may be given me.'

This was not very encouraging to three at least of the young men who
were intending to make the finest floral offering they could find, to
the girl whom in their secret hearts they admired more than any girl
they had ever seen, and who, had she made the slightest sign, might have
been installed at Grassy Spring, or Tracy Park, or Le Bateau, within
less than a month. But Jerry had never made a sign, and had laughed and
chatted and flirted with them all, not excepting Tom, who had long ago
dropped his supercilious air of superiority and patronage when talking
with her, and treated her with a gentleness and consideration almost
lover-like. Horribly jealous of Harold, whom he still felt infinitely
above, although he did not now often openly show it, he had encouraged
the visits of the latter to Tracy Park, and by jokes and hints and
innuendoes had fed the flame which he knew was burning in his sister's
heart.

'There will be a jolly row when mother finds it out,' he said to Maude
one day; 'for you know she holds her head a great deal higher than Hal
Hastings, who isn't the chap I'd choose for a brother-in-law. But if you
like him, all right. Stick to him, and I'll stand by you to the death