"More than ever! It's a wonder and a wild desire, but it scares me stiff—you're so strange."
"You know, it isn't too late."
She began to thump him with a clenched fist up between his shoulders.
"Carry on!" she ordered. "There isn't a slacker in the whole car!"
A few hours later, in the dining room of the Whipple New Place, Gideon, Harvey D., and Merle Whipple were breakfasting. To them entered Sharon Whipple from his earlier breakfast, ruddy, fresh-shaven, bubbling.
"On my way to the Home Farm," he explained, "but I had to drop in for a look at the girl by daylight. She seemed too peaked last night."
"Pat's still sleeping," said her father over his egg cup.
"That's good! I guess a rest was all she needed. Beats all, girls nowadays seem to be made of wire rope. You take that one—"
A telephone bell rang in the hall beyond, and Merle Whipple went to it.