"What the deuce do you know about it, Phil? You never wrote verses in your life. Don't you agree with me, Nellie?"
"Miss Smith said Miss Delane thought she had better not keep them."
"I knew that girl was a gossip directly I set eyes on her."
"You're naturally hurt, old fellow, but——"
"Go to the deuce! Look here, I'll bet you a fiver she takes them back and keeps them."
"Done!" said Philip, and Dale seized his hat.
"Why does he want her to take them?" asked Nellie.
"Vanity, my dear, vanity. I suppose he's accustomed to having his verses laid up in lavender. Is that what you do with yours?"
"He never wrote me any," answered Nellie in a tone of superlative indifference.
It being only two o'clock, Dale felt he could not yet go to the Grange. He made a detour by the town, on pretense of buying stamps; and, the stars fighting with him, outside the Mayor's shop he saw Janet talking to the Mayor himself.