"Molly Merryweather's Mr. Mullen, then?"
"I don't think he cares for Molly—not in that way."
"Are you quite as sure that Molly doesn't care for him in that way?"
"She couldn't or she wouldn't be so cruel. Then she never goes to lectures or Bible classes or mission societies. She is the only girl in the congregation who never makes him anything to wear. Don't you think," she asked anxiously, "that if she really cared about him she would have done some of these things?"
"From my observation of ladies and clergymen," replied Gay seriously, "I should think that she would most likely have done all of them."
She appeared relieved, he thought, by the warmth of his protestation.
Actually Mr. Mullen had contributed a decided piquancy to the episode.
"I'm afraid, Blossom," he said after a moment, "that I am beginning to be a little jealous of the Reverend Mullen. By the way, what is the Christian name of the paragon?"
"Orlando, sir."
"Ye Gods! The horror grows! Describe him to me, but paint him mildly if you wish me to survive it."
For a minute she thought very hard, as though patiently striving to invoke a mental image.