"Kittens?" brightened the May Girl for a single instant only. "Oh, you really mean kittens? Then surely there's nothing to worry about in that direction!"
"Nothing but—kittens," I conceded.
"Then it must be Allan John," said the May Girl. "His feet! Of course, I can't exactly help feeling pretty responsible for Allan John. Are you sure—are you quite sure, I mean, that he hasn't been sitting round with wet feet all the evening? He isn't exactly the croupy type, of course, but—" With a sudden irrelevant gesture she unclasped her knees, and shot her feet straight out in front of her. "Whatever in the world," she cried out, "am I going to do with Allan John when it comes time to go home! Now gold-fish," she reflected, "in a real emergency,—can always be tucked away in the bath-tub. And once when I brought home a Japanese baby," she giggled in spite of herself, "they made me keep it in my own room. But——"
"But I've got a worry of my own," I interrupted. "It's about your fainting. It scared me dreadfully. I've just been telephoning to Dr. Brawne about it."
Across the May Girl's supple body a curious tightness settled suddenly.
"You—told—Dr. Brawne that—I fainted?" she said. "You—you oughtn't to have done that!" It was only too evident that she was displeased.
"But we were worried," I repeated. "We had to tell him. We didn't like to take the responsibility."
With her childish hands spread flatly as a brace on either side of her she seemed to retreat for a moment into the gold veil of her hair. Then very resolutely her face came peering out again.
"And just what did Dr. Brawne—tell you?" asked the May Girl.
"Why something very romantic," I admitted. "The somewhat astonishing news, in fact, that you were engaged—to him."