A moment later Mrs. Corner was surprised to see a lad, of eighteen or so, dismount from his car and come toward the house. "Some friend of Helen's," she said to herself and was about to call her sister from the other side of the veranda when the young man mounted the steps and bowed before her. "Mrs. Corner?" he said inquiringly.
"I am Mrs. Corner." The answer was given with an expectant look.
"I am Carter Barnwell, from Richmond, Virginia. I happened to be coming along when a boy was playing a trick on your Chinaman. He fastened his queue to the hedge by slipping his hand through and getting hold of the end while the man was busy at work in the garden. Your little girl, Jack, was so outraged that she was bent on serving the boy as he deserved. I happened to come up in time to take sides, and—I say, Mrs. Corner, she's a dandy. She never thought of herself and I wish you could see the way she gave it to the boy. She had him down and he couldn't budge."
Mrs. Corner looked shocked. "Jack fighting in the streets, Mr. Barnwell? I am distressed to hear such a thing."
"Oh, but she wasn't exactly fighting. There wasn't a chance for the boy to get in a stroke. He was flat down, you see, and she was sitting on him. She pounded him well, I tell you. She is afraid you will think she really was fighting, but I think it was mighty fine of her to champion the Chinaman."
Miss Helen had come up during the recital. A smile played about her mouth. "What was the Chinaman doing all this time?" she asked.
"Just placidly going on with his work," returned Carter. Then catching the twinkle in Miss Helen's eye he burst into a boyish laugh in which the others could but join.
"It was funny, Mary, you must admit," said Miss Helen.
"It was, of course, but I don't like Jack to precipitate herself into street quarrels with hoodlum boys."
"Of course you don't, but her motives were good we cannot deny."