Bangs had an inspiration.
"Suppose I go with you," he suggested. "Then if you need a strong man to hold the cherub—"
"Two strong men," corrected Laurie. "Do you imagine that I'm going to desert Samuel in his hour of need? Besides, I've got to keep an eye on Bangs," he added sweetly, and was rewarded by a glare from that overwrought young man.
"Noticed anything odd about Bangs lately?" Laurie asked Sonya.
She turned on Rodney the dark gaze of her serene eyes.
"Why, no."
"You will," Laurie predicted, with a mournful shake of the head. "Watch him closely, and call on me if there are alarming symptoms that you don't understand."
Bangs rushed into confused speech.
"He thinks I've got a cold," he gulped. "His nonsense, of course. Nothing in the world the matter with me. Er—how soon do we start?"
Laurie, helpless with laughter, rolled the ecstatic Samuel on the floor. Samuel's voice took on an added note of jubilation. Sonya, his mother, Hullen R. J., "Lawwie" and "Misser Bangs" all going with him to the hos'tl—it was almost too much pleasure! Samuel became slightly intoxicated.