"Hello, Trent!" murmured Edward Henry, stooping and patting the dog.
Ralph exploded into loud laughter.
"Father's called 'Carlo'—'Trent,'" he roared. "Father, have you forgotten his name's 'Carlo'?" It was one of the greatest jokes that Ralph had heard for a long time.
Then Nellie hurried into the room, and Edward Henry, with a "Mustn't be late for tea," as hurriedly left it.
Three minutes later, while he was bent over the lavatory basin, someone burst into the bathroom. He lifted a soapy face.
It was Nellie, with disturbed features.
"What's this about your positively promising to take Maisie to London to-morrow to choose a doll?"
"I'll take 'em all," he replied with absurd levity. "And you too!"
"But really—" she pouted, indicating that he must not carry the ridiculous too far.
"Look here, d——n it," he said impulsively, "I want you to come. And I want you to come to-morrow. I knew it was the confounded infants you wouldn't leave. You don't mean to tell me you can't arrange it—a woman like you!"