“So it was Vera, was it?” Jim smiled. “I heard what she said–I mean, it was repeated to me. You were one of that party?”
“Yes. We were with the Lentilhons in their car, and the funniest thing happened the next day on the way home! Crusty old farmer wouldn’t turn out on the road, and Guy Lentilhon lost control and smashed straight through his wagon!” Jack laughed. “W-what do you think it was loaded with?”
“Eggs!” responded Jim crisply. “I happened to be on it at the time, my boy, and 141your sense of humor–I hope you all got what I did! But I must explain to Aunt Emmy here, or she will think that we are both quite mad!”
“And I must be off to the club,” Jack announced. “I’ll break the news to Billy Hollis that we’ve lost. See you later, and we’ll all settle up. Good evening, Mrs. Abbott.”
When the stout young man had taken his departure, Mrs. Abbott turned to her nephew between laughter and tears.
“James, this is the maddest of all mad things that you have ever done!”
“Jack doesn’t know anything about Lou?” Jim demanded anxiously.
“Certainly not. He has only been here a quarter of an hour, and I kept her out of the way. But, James, you cannot be serious! You cannot mean to marry this nameless waif?”
“Stop right there, Aunt Emmy,” he interrupted her firmly. “I’m going to marry, if she will have me, your ward whom you have legally adopted; I mean, you will have adopted her by the time she has grown up. 142But I don’t intend to be nosed out by any of these debutante-grabbers; I’m going to have everything settled before her studies are finished and you bring her out. I saw her first!”
“H-m. We shall see,” Aunt Emmy remarked dryly, adding: “But that can wait for the moment. What was this ridiculous wager all about, and how did you get into such horrible scrapes?”