"Oh," cried Gertrude, laughing ruefully; "how shall I explain? He is this sort of man;—if a woman were talking to him of—of the motions of the heavenly bodies, he would be thinking all the time of the shape of her ankles."
"Great heavens, Gerty, did you make the experiment?"
Phyllis opened her pretty eyes their widest as she spoke.
"We all know," remarked Lucy, with a twinkle in her eye, "that it is best to begin with a little aversion."
Phyllis struck an attitude:
"'Friends meet to part, but foes once joined——'"
"Girls, what has come over you?" exclaimed Gertrude, dismayed.
"Gerty is shocked," said Lucy; "one is always stumbling unawares on her sense of propriety."
"She is like the Bishop of Rumtyfoo," added Phyllis; "she does draw the line at such unexpected places."