"I am sure she ought to be obliged to you."
"Well, there was nobody else."
"Was that the reason you came for me?" Patty said saucily. "Flossy, what are you wandering about so for?"
"I am seeking what I may devour," Flossy answered, seating herself at her cousin's feet. "But I do not find it. I'd like a square chunk out of the side of a cow or a chicken. The sight of these deserts of cake makes me sick."
"Make up your mind what you really would like," Clarence said, "and I'll order it of the wood-nymphs. What will you have first,—turtle-soup?"
"Oh, dear, no!" Flossy answered. "I like to know what I am eating, and turtle-soup is all green fat and things. I'll eat a little pop-corn, if you please. So saying I gayly munch and munch like an educated mooly cow. Patty, where did you pick up Mr. Putnam?"
"Nowhere. He came after me."
"You didn't put him off with an evasive answer," Toxteth said in her ear.
"He didn't ask me," she retorted. "He only told me he was coming to take me."
"You girls like to be bullied," the young man muttered crossly.