“Hodge? Oh, of course not; but it doesn’t make so much difference about him.”

“Yes, it does.”

“How’s that?”

“I want to show him up to Miss Bellwood.”

“Eh? Why——”

“You may have your dark-eyed peach—if you can get her; give me the other girl. She’s the first blonde I ever saw who upset me, and she gave me the solar-plexus blow the instant I saw her.”

Fillmore was astounded.

“What’s that?” he gasped. “You don’t mean to tell me that you consider her prettier than Inza?”

“That’s just what I mean to tell you. She has the sweetest face of any girl I ever saw. In perfect health, I know she would be a hundred times prettier than Inza.”