“You’re always good company,” he protested. “But——” his face grew sympathetic—“what is wrong?”
“I have failed—again!” she murmured.
“Not again! It must be for the first time!” John refused to take part in her depression.
“Marjorie was chaperoning her troop on a hike,” his mother explained, “and the girls ran away. Naturally she is discouraged.”
“Ran away!” repeated John, in amazement. “Tell me about it—all of it!”
Marjorie settled herself to tell the story once more in detail, and while she was talking, Mrs. Hadley slipped out. She knew that she had failed to comfort her, and she wanted to give her son his opportunity.
“And so I am just about ready to give up!” she concluded desperately. “I don’t think I can ever win those girls.”
“You’re right, Marjorie!” exclaimed John ardently. “It’s so much better to expend your energy and time on people who will appreciate it. It’s ‘pearls before swine!’ Oh, my dear, why throw all that love and devotion on girls like that, when some of the rest of us are starving for it? Forget them—and—and—think about me for a little while. I want you so much! I—I——”
He stopped because he saw that his appeal had met with no answer. Marjorie only looked disturbed.
“Yes, John, I do want to think about other people—you and your mother, and everybody else that is good to me. But I can’t just now.”