"Oh, I shall be just delighted." The little face was all rosy eagerness.
"You're not eating anything. Oh, here are the mottoes. Now, we'll have some fun."
They were prizes to children in those days. A candy in a pretty colored fringed paper, with two or four printed rhymes, sometimes very funny, at others sentimental. Victor had numbers sent to him by different girls, who were beginning to think the little Maine damsel was getting more than her share of him.
Olive stood ready to pounce upon him. But Miss Holmes was there at the doorway.
"Uncle Jason has come," she said, in a low tone. "Are you not tired and almost ready to go home?"
Laverne took the outstretched hand.
"Remember," Victor said, "I shall come before long."
"Really," began Olive tauntingly, "you seem very fond of small fry."
"Why—she is your friend. You have told us ever so much about her. And she's a nice little thing."
"Oh, a mere child! A flower of the field sort of thing," rather disdainfully.