“I’m sorry we didn’t come back before; I can see it must be about time to land by Phil’s face. He never looks sad unless he’s hungry.”
“You’re wrong this time,” said Phil. “I’m looking sad because I haven’t seen Jessie for two long hours.”
“Don’t tell me that,” said Jessie, the unconvincible. “You might try that with some one else, but not with me; I know you too well.”
“But suppose I don’t want to try it with any one else,” Phil objected, managing to fall behind the rest and lowering his voice to a whisper. “Suppose I wasn’t fooling; suppose I really meant what I said?”
Jessie turned quickly and said, in a tone in which laughter and despair were equally blended, “Oh, Phil, you’re not going to begin anything like that—please——”
“Why not?” said Phil, doggedly. “If you don’t mind, I think I shall.”
Jessie regarded Phil’s serious face out of the corner of her eye and gave a little hysterical gurgle.
“It’s no use,” she thought, as Phil placed a chair for her with more than usual care; “it must be in the air. When Lucy knows——”