“I did.”

“Then that is why you have been so––”

“Yes––so––” repeated Rob grimly.

“Well, I never did have any use for a man-flirt, and I was awfully disappointed, for I had thought from what Rob said that you were a man’s man.”

“And then, of course, when for the first time in my life I began being interested in a woman––in you––I played right into that little scamp’s hands.”

“He is a man’s man, Beth,” I said warmly. “What Ptolemy heard me say was that Rob was a woman-hater.”

“I am not!” declared Rob indignantly––“just a woman-shyer, but I haven’t finished with Ptolemy’s confession. I 160 wonder, now, if either of you can guess what he told me was Miss Wade’s characteristic.”

“I don’t dare guess,” laughed Beth.

“What I did say about Beth was that she was a born flirt.”

“I am not!” protested my sister, in resentment.