"That's the funniest thing I ever heard of!"
"What is the funniest thing, dear?" asked Trif.
"Trixy," exclaimed Jermyn, "don't tell, please."
"But I must mind mamma," pleaded the child. "Besides——"
"Trixy," exclaimed Jermyn, "if you repeat what I said I'll never speak to you again."
"Trixy," said Kate, "if you don't tell I'll never speak to you again—I mean," for Kate had caught an appealing look from Jermyn—"I won't speak to you if you do tell."
The child was so confused that she did not know what to do, so she turned to her mother for advice, and Trif hurried her a few steps in advance.
"Remember, Trixy!" cried Kate after them.
"Don't forget, Trixy!" shouted Jermyn, in his sternest tone of command.
Two more uncomfortable lovers than Kate and Jermyn were in the next five minutes could not have been found anywhere, for Kate wondered what it was all about and insisted upon knowing, and Jermyn replied that he would tell her at some future time, and Kate wanted to know why he couldn't tell her at once, and Jermyn replied, somewhat sheepishly, that some things might be said in the privacy of a whispering gallery that could not easily be said face to face in a crowded street, upon which Kate wailed: