“And we have chaperons of our own, I assure you,” interposed Mr. Hammond, treating Aunt Kate’s objection seriously. “Miss Loder has a cousin who always travels with her. Our own Mother Paisley, who plays character parts, has daughters of her own and is a lovely lady. You need not fear, Madam, that the conventions will be broken.”
“We won’t even crack ’em, Aunt Kate,” declared Helen rouguishly. “I will watch Jen like a cat would a mouse.”
“Humph!” observed the plump girl, scornfully. “This mouse, in that case, is likely to swallow the cat!”
CHAPTER XIII
THE HERMIT
“Now, tell me, Miss Ruth,” said Mr. Hammond, having taken the girl of the Red Mill into his own car for the short run to Beach Plum Point, “what is this trouble about your new scenario? You have excited my curiosity during all these months about the wonderful script, and now you say it is not ready for me.”
“Oh, Mr. Hammond!” exclaimed Ruth, “I fear it will never be ready for you.”
“Nonsense! Don’t lose heart. You have merely come to one of those thank-you-ma’ams in story writing that all authors suffer. Wait. It will come to you.”