"What!" I exclaimed. "Mrs. Smythe's nephew! Olive wrote me that he had come back from India, and was staying there. She said they had been cycling together, but I never thought— He must be a great deal older than she is."
"And why, pray?" Peggy asked with a smile.
"Oh, I see," she added. "Olive probably omitted to explain that he was Mrs. Smythe's grand-nephew. The old lady always speaks of him as her nephew. As a matter-of-fact, he is twenty-nine."
"Oh!" I said disconsolately. "And is Olive very fond of him?"
Peggy laughed.
"I shall leave you to find that out for yourself," she said. "You won't have much difficulty."
"Do you like him, Peggy?" I asked anxiously.
"Oh, yes, we all like him," she said cheerfully, "and not least Master Fred. He has been making a good deal of Fred. He proposed taking him to the Zoo on Saturday week, and then with serpentine cunning suggested that Olive and I should go too. I fell into the snare, like the dear little innocent I am. Soon after entering the gardens, Mr. Smythe provided Fred with a big bag of buns, and led us to the bears' den. Fred was soon engaged in exciting endeavours to induce the big bear to climb his pole, and I was watching lest he should precipitate himself into the pit, when I became aware that the other two had vanished. If you will believe it, we saw nothing more of them till it was almost time to go home, and I had all of taking Fred from house to house, and helping him to spend the half-crown Mr. Smythe had given him, in rides on every animal that could possibly be mounted."
"Poor Peggy! They did treat you badly!" I said, unable to keep from laughing, though I did not feel exactly merry. "I hope they duly apologised."
"They told me they were sorry, but they certainly disguised their feelings well," she said, with twinkling eyes, "for I never saw two mortals look so supremely happy. The hours in which I had been growing hot and weary had passed like a blissful dream with them, and they could not believe it was so late. Of course, I guessed what it meant, and the next day he came to see father, and the thing was settled."