“I wish I could say as much,” Jimmie sighed, “since this is the hour of confession I don’t mind adding that I hope I may be able to soon.”
Gertrude clapped her hands softly.
“Wonderful, wonderful!” she cried. “We’ve the makings of a triple wedding in our midst. Look into the blushing faces before us and hear the voice that breathed o’er Eden echoing in our ears. This is the most exciting moment of my life! Girls, get on your feet and drink to the health of these about-to-be Benedicts. Up in your chairs,—one slipper on the table. Now!”—and the moment was saved.
Gertrude had seen Margaret’s sudden pallor and heard the convulsive catching of her breath,—Margaret rising Undine-like out of a filmy, pale green frock, with her eyes set a little more deeply in the shadows than usual. Her quick instinct to the rescue was her own salvation.
David was on his feet.
“On behalf of my coadjutors,” he said, “I thank you. All this is extremely premature for me, and 253 I imagine from the confusion of the other gentlemen present it is as much, if not more so, for them. Personally I regret exceedingly being unable to take you more fully into my confidence. The only reason for this partial revelation is that I wished to be sure that I was honorably released from my oath of abstinence. Hang it all! You fellows say something,” he concluded, sinking abruptly into his chair.
“Your style always was distinctly mid-Victorian,” Jimmie murmured. “I’ve got nothing to say, except that I wish I had something to say and that if I do have something to say in the near future I’ll create a real sensation! When Miss Van Astorbilt permits David to link her name with his in the caption under a double column cut in our leading journals, you’ll get nothing like the thrill that I expect to create with my modest announcement. I’ve got a real romance up my sleeve.”
“So’ve I, Jimmie. There is no Van Astorbilt in mine.”
“Some simple bar-maid then? A misalliance in our midst. Now about you, Peter?”
“The lady won’t give me her permission to 254 speak,” Peter said. “She knows how proud and happy I shall be when I am able to do so.”