“Geoffrey?” questioned Auntie. “Isn’t he up at Columbia?”
“No, he has graduated and is here with me, reading law.”
“Auntie,” began Agatha pityingly, “doesn’t realise that a young woman meets with far more courteous treatment on the East side than she does elsewhere in town.”
“I regret to admit,” said Auntie with polite heat, “that to me her sociology, so far, has seemed nothing but—but——”
“Say it! Say it!” cried Agatha.
“Well, then, madcap gadding.”
Agatha rippled out a laugh. “Auntie doesn’t understand. I am working on a thesis for my master’s degree—‘The Influence of Alien Immigration upon the Metropolitan Body Politic.’”
Mr. Avery nodded. “My dear Miss Connaughton” (Auntie was Miss Connaughton), “what have I to do with Miss Agatha’s thesis?”
“A suitable person,” answered Miss Connaughton, “a gentleman, of course—for no woman, however quick on her feet, could ever keep up with Agatha—must be found who will act as her escort.”
“Ah!” said Mr. Avery, smiling. “A gentleman in waiting for the princess!”