"Am I included in the invitation?" asked Dorothy quietly.
"Sure," he replied, looking at her a little surprised. Then, seeing the twitching at the corners of her mouth, he smiled.
"Then that's fixed up," he said. "I'll have an automobile for next Saturday, and you shall arrange where we're to go."
"But you mustn't joy-ride," said Dorothy, suddenly remembering D.O.R.A. and all her Don't's.
"Mustn't what?" demanded John Dene, in the tone of a man who finds his pleasures suddenly threatened from an unexpected angle.
"It's forbidden to use petrol for pleasure," she explained.
John Dene made a noise in his throat that, from her knowledge of him, Dorothy recognised as a sign that someone was on the eve of being gingered-up.
"I'll get that automobile," he announced; and Dorothy knew that there was trouble impending for Mr. Blair.
"And we'll have a picnic-hamper, shall we?" she cried excitedly.
"Sure," replied John Dene, "I'll order one."