Immediately they were alone, George burst out excitedly, "Nellie, there's another girl!"
"In your case? Well, nobody's jealous," she replied.
"A prettier one than ever, but very young, in short skirts, with her hair down, and her name's Teenie," he continued, without even hearing her comment.
"I think you've come back perfectly crazy," observed Nellie.
"If you don't believe me, you can just go to Black Anchor and find out for yourself."
"Oh, you mean another girl there!" she exclaimed, flushing angrily, and adding, "I don't want to hear any more—but how do you know?"
"She travelled in the same carriage with me, and I thought what a dear—I mean passable little thing she was. Directly the train stopped I saw Sidney, and he called out, 'Here I am, Teenie darling!' And the little girl fairly shouted, 'Oh, Sidney dear, how brown you are!' Then she jumped out, and they kissed and hugged. I never saw anything more disgraceful in my life. I sat back in the carriage so that Sidney shouldn't see me. I suppose they have driven through the village by this time, unless they have the decency to wait until it's dark."
"Where's your luggage?" asked Nellie rather sharply, but determined to change the subject.
"First the painted lady, then Dolly, now Teenie! Thirty, then twenty, and now fourteen! The next will be twelve, and after that they'll be coming in perambulators. My word, young Sidney is a patriarch!"
"Hold your tongue," cried Nellie, more sharply than she had ever spoken in her life.