"Bless you, no! Connie had n't nearly finished. She and her friend were as thick as thieves by this time. The conversation was just beginning to interest them."
"What did you find to talk about, Miss Damer?" asked Hilda Beverley curiously.
"I could n't help wondering," Connie continued, "whether he had a wife and children to support; so I asked him if he was married. He said he was afraid he was, but if ever he became a widower he would let me know. We left after that."
"Constance, dear child!" began Lady Adela, amid unseemly laughter.
"It was all right, Lady Adela," Miss Damer assured her. "They were quite a nice crowd, and I had Dicky with me."
"You are a great deal better able to take care of yourself than I am, old lady," said The Freak admiringly.
I saw Miss Beverley's fine eyes rest disapprovingly for a moment upon her philogynistic swain. Then some one asked:--
"What is your tip, Connie?"
Miss Damer scanned her paper.
"It's not very well written," she said. "Perry--Perry--something."