Now Roger sat on the other side of Patty, and as his father finished speaking, he said, apparently apropos of nothing:
“Mother, are these your Spode plates, or are they Cauldon ware?”
“They’re Spode, Roger; why do you want to know? Are you suddenly becoming interested in China?”
“Yes,” he replied; “are you sure, mother, these are Spode?”
He lifted the handsome plate in front of him, and gazed intently at the mark on its under side, as he held it just above the level of his eyes.
“Be careful, Roger, you’ll spill your ice cream,” admonished his father.
“No, I won’t, sir,” he said, as he replaced his plate. “But I never saw Spode with this decoration before. Let me look at yours, Patty.”
He took up Patty’s plate of ice cream, and lifting it quite high studied the stamp on that.
Suddenly he moved it, until the dish of mistletoe ice cream was directly over Patty’s head.
“Fairly caught!” he cried; “under the mistletoe!” And before Patty caught the jest, Roger had kissed her pretty pink cheek, and then calmly restored her plate of ice cream to its place in front of her.