mal, and Mr. Robert adds: "A young friend
of mine from the office."

"Oh!" says Miss Hampton, liftin' her eyebrows a little.

"I brought him along," blurts out Mr. Robert, "to tell you about how you
happened to get the roses."

"Really!" says she. "How considerate of you!"

And if Mr. Robert hadn't been actin' so much like a poor prune he'd have
quit that line right there. But on he blunders.

"You see," says he, "I've asked Torchy to explain for me."

"Ye-e-es?" says she, bitin' her upper lip thoughtful and glancin' from
one to the other of us. "Then--then you needn't have bothered to come
yourself, need you?"

Say, that was something to lean against, wa'n't it? You could almost
hear the dull thud as it reached him.

"Oh, I say, Elsa!" he gets out gaspy. "Of course I--I wished to come,
too."

"Thank you," says she. "I wasn't sure. And now that you've brought him,
may I hear what your young friend has to say, all by myself?"

She even springs another one of them twisty smiles; but her head nods
suggestive at the door. I expects I starts a grin; but one glimpse of
Mr. Robert's face and it fades out. He wa'n't happy a bit. For a minute
he stands there lookin' sort of dazed, as if he'd been hit with a lead
pipe, and with his neck and ears tinted up like a raspb'rry sundae.

"Very well," says he, and does a slow exit, leavin' me gawpin' after him
sympathetic.

Not for long, though. My turn came as soon as the latch was clicked.

"Now, Torchy," says she, chummy and encouragin', as she slips into an
old-rose armchair and waves me towards another.

I'm still gazin' at the door, wonderin' if Mr. Robert has jumped down
the elevator shaft or is takin' it out on the lever juggler.

"Ah, say, Miss Hampton!" says I. "Why throw the harpoon so hasty when he
was doin' his best?"

"Was he?" says she. "Then his best isn't very wonderful, is it?"

"But you didn't give him a show," says I. "Course it was a dippy play of
his, luggin' me along, as I warned him. Believe me, though, he meant all
right. There ain't any more yellow in Mr. Robert than there is in my
tie. Honest! Maybe he don't show up brilliant when he's talkin' to
ladies; but I want to tell you he's about as good as they come."

"Indeed!" says she, widenin' her eyes and chucklin' easy. "That is what
I should call an unreserved indorsement. But about the roses, now?"

Well, I sketched the plot of the piece all out for her, from findin' her
miniature acciden