membered that, of course, she wouldn't know whom I meant.

"Oh, your guest, you know--your friend from school," I went on, trying
to tread cautiously and yet feeling myself growing red. "Oh, see here
now, I don't like to say things, but--er--"

"Oh, _go_ on!" she trilled, her sweet face shining wistful.

"Well, I mean this--er--Miss Kirkland; came out with us this
morning, don't you know. _I_ think of her as _the frump_--little
idea--er--nickname of mine, you know, she's so _awful_!" And I screwed
my glass with a chuckle.

For an instant I thought she wouldn't catch it, she stared at me so
blankly. _Then_ the joke of it--the jolly aptness, so to speak--got her
full and square, and she just lifted a scream, hugging her knee and
rocking back and forth, her face suffused, her laughter pealing like a
chime of bells.

And I just rocked, too, keeping her company. Really, I don't think I
ever laughed so much since some chap plunked down on the hard crown of
my new tile last winter. At least I _wanted_ to laugh--in church, you
know, and it's so awful how you feel there when something--oh, _you_
know! And if you could have seen that poor fellow's face!

By Jove, how glad I was for her jolly sense of humor that could see the
point of things so quickly, and think them _clever_. Always had so
dashed little patience with stupid people, don't you know. And just here
another little thing came to me and I let her have it:

"Oh, I say!"--I leaned nearer, chuckling--"your father pretends to
think her a most beautiful and winning girl--_fancy_!" And my face
stretched itself in such a jolly grin that I could hardly hold my glass.

She bent toward me, smiling adorably. "You mean this--er--'Miss
Kirkland'?"

I nodded chortlingly.

She peered at me through her long what-you-call-'ems--oh, _such_ a way!

"But _you_ don't think so, _do_ you?" How sweetly, how fetchingly she
said it!

"Me?" I gasped. By Jove, in my horror, I lost my grip upon my jolly
grammar. "Oh, I say now! _I_ think the frump--this Miss Kirkland, you
know--is a fright--regular freak, dash it! I told the judge so!"

"You--you--"

"Of _course_!" And I shrugged disgustedly, making the ugliest grimace I
possibly could. "Why, dash it, if I were a woman and had a face like
hers, I never would have left China, or England--or wherever her jolly
home was--_no, sir_!"

She caught her breath with a little gasp--then she was off again! This
time she rested her arms upo