"Agreed," Gwen responded. "Though doesn't it strike you, Ethel, that this is rather a cold-blooded transaction?"
"Not a bit of it. Only in high-flown novels do you hear of girls with such saintly reserve that they allow no one to discuss their love affairs with them. I never saw a girl yet who wasn't perfectly willing to go over all the pros and cons with her intimate friends."
"Not when she is really in love."
"That depends, perhaps. It may be before she takes the final plunge that she is ready to talk matters over as you and I have done this morning. Now I don't want any more final plunges till I know it is worth while. I have no idea of losing my sleep without just cause."
"You are cold-blooded, Ethel."
"No, I am not. I am simply philosophical. Adieu, my dear, until to-morrow, and remember, no shilly-shallying then, or I shall be perfectly merciless if I get the chance."
CHAPTER XI
DADDY LU
True to her word, Gwen did not appear in public that evening. She was not seen in her usual place on the rocks, nor did she go to the post-office for the mail, and Cephas Mitchell, passing by Wits' End at a late hour, failed to perceive her on the porch. Miss Elliott was there with Miss Maria Skinner. She could not tell where her niece was. She might have gone to Sheldon woods or perhaps she was with Miss Fuller.