Herbert just looked at her.
"The worst thing," said his father;—"that is, if there's any part of it that's worse than another—the worst thing about it all is this rumour about Noble Dill."
"What about that poor thing?" Aunt Harriet asked. "We haven't heard."
"Why, I walked up from downtown with old man Dill," said Mr. Atwater, "and the Dill family are all very much worried. It seems that Noble started downtown after lunch, as usual, and pretty soon he came back to the house and he had a copy of this awful paper that little Florence had given him, and——"
"Who gave it to him?" Aunt Fanny asked. "Who?"
"Why, that's curious," Cousin Virginia murmured. "I must telephone and ask her mother about that."
The brooding Herbert looked up, and there was a gleam in his dogged eye; but he said nothing.
"Go on," Aunt Harriet urged. "What did Noble do?"
"Why, his mother said he just went up to his room and changed his shoes and necktie——"