"Evangeline! Have you got him there?"
The softest of giggles. "Why, of course! He's too valuable to leave anywheres. Leave a Best Baby! That's the s'prise! He's a prize baby, Elly Precious is! I've got it in my pocket!"
CHAPTER VII
"I've got to take him home an' bed him down!" Horsey little Evangeline! "Then I'll come back an' show it to you. Isn't it puffectly elegant that he took a prize! We've had the best time!" And in the darkness Miss Theodosia heard soft, retreating steps and the faintest creak of wheels. Left alone, she leaned for support on the porch pillar, overcome by the Evangelineness of Evangeline. And they had all had so far from the "best time"—they had suffered so!
"Mercy gracious!" sighed Miss Theodosia weakly, but aloud.
"What did I tell you?" The Man Person's voice! What kind of a ghostly night was this? "Didn't I say it was Evangeline that had happened, 'mark my words'? Well, wasn't it?"
"Tell me instantly how she 'happened'! I'm all in the dark."
"Same here. Can't see an inch before my nose. If we had a lamp—"
"Didn't she tell you? Didn't she come home with you?"
"No—no, I came home with her. Behind her—she didn't know. Wanted to let her do the whole thing alone. I confess I was curious."