“Well, you’re a nice kid,” he went on. “I knowed it the minute I saw you. So that girl was your cousin, was she? Joyce, wha did ya say her name was? I ferget without the writin’ in front of me.”
“Joyce Radway,” eagerly supplied Dorothea, her eyes on the candy box.
“Yes, that’s it, Joyce Radway. Of course. How did I come to ferget that? Well, now this Joyce Radway, she’s a great friend of that other girl’s uncle, ain’t she?”
“Why, I guess so,” said Dorothea. “He came to the house to see her the other night.”
“Oh, he did, did he? Yes, of course he would. Then your cousin is home, ain’t she?” insinuatingly.
“No, she ain’t home, not now,” said Dorothea, annoyed, wondering when he was going to give her the box. “She’s gone away.”
“Oh! She has?” his eyes narrowed as he watched her. “Did she go away with him?”
“Oh, no,” said Dorothea garrulously. “She just went away by herself. She was mad. Daddy scolded her, and she just went.”
“Yes?” said the young man ingratiatingly, fumbling with the red ribbon as if he were about to untie it. “Suppose you tell me all about it, and then I’ll give you the candy. You say your daddy scolded her? What for? Didn’t he like the boys coming to see her?”
“Oh, no,” said Dorothea quite earnestly, trying to think how to answer so she would get the candy quickly. “She never had any boys. It was just the ’lectric light. Daddy said she burned it too much, and he didn’t like her taking ’zaminations and all. Where’dya get the candy? I saw a box like that down to the drug store.”