“Well—this,” she hurried on. “Clarence’s father and mother are abroad this year and he’s spending the holidays with Mary and her father, and I just had to invite him to-night, and, really, Quis, you don’t know how that boy has improved. He stands up as straight in his uniform, and it’s just as becoming, and he acts so gentlemanly! If you only could forgive him, and be nice to him——”
Marquis’s laugh interrupted right there. “Forgive!” he echoed. “Do you s’pose I’m holding that baby grudge all this time? Not much! Besides, I always knew, in my heart, that Daddy Branch was right in putting the blame for that thing on us older fellows. Of course I’ll be nice to him! By the way, Jack, has Bobs come?” he broke off, cutting her thanks short with the question.
“No, not yet.”
“Not yet! Won’t he be here this evening?”
“Oh, yes, of course! You meant had he come to town? He came yesterday. He’s been here nearly all day, helping me trim the tree.”
“Oh, ho! Telephoned you from the station, I suppose, as soon as his train struck Channing?”
“How did you know?” she demanded, and then the colour flew to her face, as Marquis laughed delightedly.
“But you’re on the wrong track, Quis,” she added, recovering herself in a flash. “Just wait till you see who’s coming here with him to-night, if you want to know the one he really likes.”
“Pooh! Who is it?” he asked, his laugh subsiding into an incredulous grin.
“Oh, the blindness of some people! Why, he always admired her at Marston, and they’ve been corresponding regularly ever since he went to Tech. She thinks the world of him; she told me so.”